Thiolated\nGraphene@Polyester Fabric-Based Multilayer Piezoresistive Pressure\nSensors for Detecting Human Motion

Abstract

In\nthe past several years, wearable pressure sensors have engendered\na new surge of interest worldwide because of their important applications\nin the areas of health monitoring, electronic skin, and smart robots.\nHowever, it has been a great challenge to simultaneously achieve a\nwide pressure-sensing range and high sensitivity for the sensors until\nnow. Herein, we proposed an innovative strategy to construct multilayer-structure\npiezoresistive pressure sensors with an in situ generated thiolated\ngraphene@polyester (GSH@PET) fabric via the one-pot method. Taking\nadvantage of the spacing among the rough fabric layers and the highly\nconductive GSH, the sensor realized not only a wide pressure range\n(0–200 kPa), but also high sensitivity (8.36 and 0.028 kPa^–1 in the ranges of 0–8 and 30–200 kPa,\nrespectively). After 500 loading–unloading cycles, the sensor\nstill kept high sensitivity and a stable response, exhibiting great\npotential in long-term practical applications. Importantly, the piezoresistive\npressure sensor was successfully applied to accurately detect different\nhuman behaviors including pulse, body motion, and voice recognition.\nAdditionally, the sensing network integrated by the sensors also realized\nmapping and identifying spatial pressure distribution. Our method\nto construct the wide-range and high-sensitivity piezoresistive pressure\nsensor is facile, cost-effective, and available for mass production.\nThe findings provide a new direction to fabricate the new-generation\nhigh-performance sensors for healthcare, interactive wearable devices,\nelectronic skin, and smart robots.