Facile Fabrication of Flexible Pressure Sensor with Programmable Lattice Structure

Abstract

Flexible pressure sensors have attracted intense attention because of their widespread applications in electronic skin, human−machine interfaces, and healthcare monitoring. Conductive porous structures are always utilized as active layers to improve the sensor sensitivities. However, flexible pressure sensors derived from traditional foaming techniques have limited structure designability. Besides, random pore distribution causes difference in structure and signal repeatability between different samples even in one batch, therefore limiting the batch production capabilities. Herein, we introduce a structure designable lattice structure pressure sensor (LPS) produced by bottom-up digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing technique, which is capable of efficiently producing 55 high fidelity lattice structure models in 30 min. The LPS shows high sensitivity (1.02 kPa −1 ) with superior linearity over a wide pressure range (0.7 Pa to 160 kPa). By adjusting the design parameters such as lattice type and layer thickness, the electrical sensitivities and mechanical properties of LPS can be accurately controlled. In addition, the LPS endures up to 60000 compression cycles (at 10 kPa) without any obvious electrical signal degradation. This benefits from the firm carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coating derived from high-energy ultrasonic probe and the subsequent thermal curing process of UV-heat dual-curing photocurable resin. For practical applications, the LPS is used for real time pulse monitoring, voice recognition and Morse code communication. Furthermore, the LPS is also integrated to make a flexible 4 × 4 sensor arrays for detecting spatial pressure distribution and a flexible insole for foot pressure monitoring.

Paper-based flexible strain and pressure sensor with enhanced mechanical strength and super-hydrophobicity that can work under water

“…As shown in Fig. 6b, the detection range of this work was much wider than those of previously reported paper-based pressure sensors [57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75] though the sensitivity is moderate. When the sensor was pressed and released rapidly under a consistent pressure of 100 kPa (Fig.…”

Deep Eutectic Solvent Induced Porous Conductive Composite for Fully Printed Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor

“…Several groups also developed pressure sensors by the combination of the above two strategies. [28][29][30][31][32] Despite the frequently updated sensitivity and working range in recent years, the challenges in fabrication remain. Therefore, there is a strong desire to develop new materials design, which can help realize flexible pressure sensors using scalable and straightforward fabrication processes.…”

Pressure‐Perceptive Actuators for Tactile Soft Robots and Visual Logic Devices

“…Detailed comparisons are listed in Table S1 (Supporting Information). [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] These results indicate that CNT-Silk/BOPP composite films can be used in pressure-sensing devices for further applications.…”