A Pillow-Shaped 3D Hierarchical Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor Based on Conductive Silver Components-Coated Fabric and Random Fibers Assembly

Abstract

Flexible pressure sensors are increasingly popular because of their extensive applications in smart textile and flexible robotics. Inspired by the composite hierarchical structure of conventional pillows, a pillow-shaped 3D hierarchical piezoresistive pressure sensor is presented in this work. Silver components-coated knitted fabrics and assembly of polypropylene fibers were employed to fabricate the textile-based pressure sensors using a facile thermal bonding route. The intrinsic flexible knitted structure and good resilience of polypropylene assembly synergized to render outstanding sensing performance, high sensitivity (3.504 kPa–1), and excellent durability (resistance reduction of 2%) even after 4500 cycles. Our pressure sensors were tested to monitor human’s physiological activities, such as respiratory rate and extended sleeping position. Therefore, our proposed flexible sensors could provide a novel, convenient, and elegant solution to monitor the physiological activities of not only patients but also of healthy subjects such as children and the elderly.