Wearable LIG Flexible Stress Sensor Based on Spider Web Bionic Structure

• Published in: Coatings (Basel) 2023-01, Vol.13 (1), p.155
• Main Authors: Zheng, Hehui, Wang, Han, Yi, Kunran, Lin, Jian, Chen, An, Chen, Lingming, Zou, Zebiao, Liu, Maolin, Ji, Yuchen, Dong, Lingzhi, Lin, Zhenpei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bionics; Carbon; Durability; Electrical resistivity; Flexibility; Graphene; Human motion; Human-computer interaction; Lasers; Mechanical properties; Motion perception; Polydimethylsiloxane; Scientific imaging; Sensitivity; Sensors; Silk; Spiders; Stability; Substrates; Wearable technology; Webs
• ISSN: 2079-6412; 2079-6412
• DOI: 10.3390/coatings13010155

Bionic structures are widely used in scientific research. Through the observation and study of natural biological structure, it is found that spider web structure is composed of many radial silk lines protruding from the center and spiral silk lines surrounding the center. It has high stability and high sensitivity, and is especially suitable for the production of sensors. In this study, a flexible graphene sensor based on a spider web bionic structure is reported. Graphene, with its excellent mechanical properties and high electrical conductivity, is an ideal material for making sensors. In this paper, laser-induced graphene (LIG) is used as a sensing material to make a spider web structure, which is encapsulated onto a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate to make a spider web structured graphene flexible strain sensor. The study found that the stress generated by the sensor of the spider web structure in the process of stretching and torsion can be evenly distributed in the spider web structure, which has excellent resonance ability, and the overall structure shows good structural robustness. In the experimental test, it is shown that the flexible stress sensor with spider web structure achieves high sensitivity (GF is 36.8), wide working range (0–35%), low hysteresis (260 ms), high repeatability and stability, and has long-term durability. In addition, the manufacturing process of the whole sensor is simple and convenient, and the manufactured sensor is economical and durable. It shows excellent stability in finger flexion and extension, fist clenching, and arm flexion and extension applications. This shows that the sensor can be widely used in wearable sensing devices and the detection of human biological signals. Finally, it has certain development potential in the practical application of medical health, motion detection, human-computer interaction and other fields.