Compressible and Electrically Conducting Fibers for LargeāArea Sensing of Pressures
Flexible pressure sensors offer a wide application range in health monitoring and humanāmachine interaction. However, their implementation in functional textiles and wearable electronics is limited because existing devices are usually small, 0D elements, and pressure localization is only achieved through arrays of numerous sensors. Fiberābased solutions are easier to integrate and electrically address, yet still suffer from limited performance and functionality. An asymmetric crossāsectional design of compressible multimaterial fibers is demonstrated for the detection, quantification, and localization of kPaāscale pressures over m2āsize surfaces. The scalable thermal drawing technique is employed to coprocess polymer composite electrodes within a soft thermoplastic elastomer support into long fibers with customizable architectures. Thanks to advanced mechanical analysis, the fiber microstructure can be tailored to respond in a predictable and reversible fashion to different pressure ranges and locations. The functionalization of large, flexible surfaces with the 1D sensors is demonstrated by measuring pressures on a gymnastic mat for the monitoring of body position, posture, and motion.
2019-10-29
30
1
1904274
REVIEWED