Design of a stable wearable piezoresistive sensor with a laminated pattern for simultaneous anti-wetting and self-power

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2024-02, Vol.481, p.148346, Article 148346
• Main Authors: Song, Haoyang, Ma, Junchi, Li, Chenglong, Cai, Yang, Wang, Yibo, Cheng, Xujie, Li, Zhengrui, Long, Cai, Liu, Changsheng, Qing, Yongquan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Piezoresistive sensor; Stable; Superhydrophobic; Wearable
• ISSN: 1385-8947; 1873-3212
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2023.148346

[Display omitted] •A stable wearable piezoresistive sensor with a laminated pattern was designed.•The sensor simultaneously achieves effective pressure sensing and self-power supply.•The sensor combines both hardness and softness for reliable sensing properties.•The sensor retains superhydrophobicity even subjected to mechanical/chemical damage. Wearable piezoresistive sensors have great potential in motion monitoring, health detection, and virtual reality. However, such sensors have difficulty maintaining long-term and stable sensing performance in complicated conditions such as wetting, corrosion and without external power supply. Herein, we integrated a stable wearable piezoresistance sensor (SWPS) with sandwich-like laminated structure, which consists of a flexible superhydrophobic conductive material, a rigid superhydrophobic material, conductive coil and magnetic composite materials which is used to provide magnetic field. SWPS achieves simultaneously effective pressure sensing and self-power supply. Importantly, such sensor maintains outstanding superhydrophobicity even when exposed to mechanical or chemical damage, such as cyclic compression, impact and wetting erosion, ensuring the reliable and long-lasting sensing performance. Our design strategy could also guide the development of other wearable sensor materials that need to retain long-term sensing performance in harsh operating conditions.