High-Performance Strain Sensors with Fish-Scale-Like Graphene-Sensing Layers for Full-Range Detection of Human Motions

TLDR

Strain sensors with large stretchability, broad sensing range, and high sensitivity are highly desirable because of their potential applications in electronic skins and health monitoring systems. The study reports a high-performance strain sensor featuring a fish-scale-like graphene-sensing layer. The sensor is fabricated by stretching and releasing composite films of reduced graphene oxide on elastic tape, a simple, inexpensive, energy-saving, and scalable process. It achieves a wide sensing range up to 82 % strain, a gauge factor of 16.2 to 150, an ultralow detection limit below 0.1 % strain, and excellent reliability over 5 000 cycles, making it suitable for full-range human motion detection.

Abstract

Strain sensors with large stretchability, broad sensing range, and high sensitivity are highly desirable because of their potential applications in electronic skins and health monitoring systems. In this paper, we report a high-performance strain sensor with a fish-scale-like graphene-sensing layer. This strain sensor can be fabricated via stretching/releasing the composite films of reduced graphene oxide and elastic tape, making the process simple, cheap, energy-saving, and scalable. It can be used to detect both stretching and bending deformations with a wide sensing range (up to 82% strain), high sensitivity (a gauge factor of 16.2 to 150), ultralow limit of detection (<0.1% strain), and excellent reliability and stability (>5000 cycles). Therefore, it is attractive and promising for practical applications, such as for the full-range detection of human motions.