Sensitive and wearable carbon nanotubes/carbon black strain sensors with wide linear ranges for human motion monitoring

摘要

Abstract Strain sensors have increasingly played an important role in the field of wearable devices for monitoring human motions. In this paper, we develop a flexible and wearable strain sensor composed of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon black (CB) on the stretchable spandex yarn. The sensor was fabricated though a layer-by-layer assembly method, respectively coating CNTs and CB on the yarn, which is simple, low-cost, solution-processable. Compared with reported strain sensors, the materials of the sensors are quite cheap and the manufacturing process is relatively simple. Fortunately, the sensors show perfect properties, such as high sensitivity (gauge factor, GF up to 45.4), super stretchability of 150%, and excellent linearity with large linear ranges (the strain range 15–150%). On the basis of the outstanding performance of the sensors, we successfully tested the finger bending and wrist pulse beating, proving that the sensors are potential in monitoring human movement.