Highly Stretchable Piezoelectric Strain Sensor With Dual Wavy Structures of PVDF Microfibers

Abstract

With the development of flexible electronic technology and wearable technology, more and more high requirements are put forward for the stretchability of electronic devices. In this paper, a highly stretchable piezoelectric strain sensor based on dual wavy structures of PVDF microfibers is proposed and successfully implemented. The dual wavy structures of PVDF microfibers include both out-of-plane and in-plane wavy structures, which are controllable prepared by combination of pre-strain technique and programmable motion platform. Experiments proved that the dual wavy PVDF microfibers can achieve elongation of more than 350% under a relatively small prestrain. The fabricated strain sensor exhibited sensitive response to the bending of fingers and joints. It also demonstrated sensitive piezoelectric signal to tensile strain of up to 350% and tensile frequency of up to 1 Hz. This study have showed the potential application of the proposed strain sensor in detecting human motions as components of wearable devices.