With
the fast development of consumer electronic and artificial
intelligence equipment, flexible pressure sensors (FPSs) have become
a momentous component in the application of wearable electronic, electronic
skin, and human–machine interfacing. The capacitive FPS possesses
the merits of low energy consumption, high resolution, and fast dynamic
response, so it is ideal for mobile and wearable electronics. However,
capacitive FPS is vulnerable to electromagnetic interference and parasitic
capacitance due to its low sensitivity. Microstructure or porous dielectric
materials have been applied to improve the sensitivity of the capacitive
FPS, but the high sensitivity is just limited to a narrow region.
In this work, we propose a different strategy that incorporates a
high-permittivity MXene nanocomposite dielectric with a 3D network
electrode (3DNE) to improve the sensing performance of the capacitive
FPS. Thanks to the high permittivity of the dielectric layer and hierarchical
deformation of the electrode, the fabricated capacitive FPS exhibits
a high sensitivity of 10.2 kPa–1 in the low pressure
range (0–8.6 kPa) and still maintains a relatively high sensitivity
of 3.65 kPa–1 with a near-linear response in a wide
pressure range (8.6–100 kPa). In addition, the capacitive FPS
can withstand over 20,000 times pressure loads without significant
signal damping. Furthermore, the working mechanism of the capacitive
FPS is illustrated by the finite element analysis (FEA) method and
theoretical calculation. The application potential of the sensor in
wearable electronics was demonstrated by human pulse wave monitoring
and pressure mapping tests with a 4 × 6 sensor microarray.