Large-Area Compliant, Low-Cost, and Versatile Pressure Sensing Platform Based on Microcrack-Designed Carbon Black@Polyurethane Sponge for Human–Machine Interfacing
writer:Xiaodong Wu; Yangyang Han; Xinxing Zhang*; Zehang Zhou; Canhui Lu*
keywords:Sponge sensor,Human–Machine Interfacing
source:期刊
specific source:Advanced Functional Materials
Issue time:2016年
It is a challenge to manufacture pressure-sensing materials that possess flexibility, high sensitivity, large-area compliance, and capability to detect both tiny and large motions for the development of artififi cial intelligence products. Herein, a very simple and low-cost approach is proposed to fabricate versatile pressure sensors based on microcrack-designed carbon black (CB)@polyurethane (PU) sponges via natural polymer-mediated water-based layer-by-layer assembly. These sensors are capable of satisfying the requirements of ultrasmall as well as large motion monitoring. The versatility of these sensors benefifi ts from two aspects: microcrack junction sensing mechanism for tiny motion detecting (91 Pa pressure, 0.2% strain) inspired by the spider sensory system and compressive contact of CB@PU conductive backbones for large motion monitoring (16.4 kPa pressure, 60% strain). Furthermore, these sensors exhibit excellent flfl exibility, fast response times (<20 ms), as well as good reproducibility over 50 000 cycles. This study also demonstrates the versatility of these sensors for various applications, ranging from speech recognition, health monitoring, bodily motion detection to artififi cial electronic skin. The desirable comprehensive performance of our sensors, which is comparable to the recently reported pressure-sensing devices, together with their signififi cant advantages of low-cost, easy fabrication, especially versatility, makes them attractive in the future of artifificial intelligence.