A Liquid Metal Based Super-Stretchable Strain Sensor

Abstract

Quantifying naturally occurring strains in wearable electronic devices, such as those of the human or robot body, requires strain sensors with equal or greater physical properties. This paper reports a novel microfabrication method derived from soft lithography with liquid metal encapsulated to create a super-stretchable strain sensor. Compared to state of art, the sensor can be stretched 300%, and twisted 180°. The repeatability error of stretching and releasing process is less than 3%; and the sensitivity parameter gauge factor could reach as great as 8. The liquid metal based sensor is believed to have great potential in the next-generation of wearable devices.