Versatile spider-web-like cross-linked polyimide aerogel with tunable dielectric permittivity for highly sensitive flexible sensors

With the development of intelligent electronic power systems, the performance of flexible electronic sensors with portability and miniaturization is increasingly in demand. It is extremely challenging to achieve high modulus and high elasticity of polymer matrix simultaneously due to the inherent strength-elasticity conflict of elastic polymer. Here, a series of "spider-web-like" cross-linked polyimide aerogels (CPAs) had been successfully prepared. Benefiting from the robust dynamic network structure, the CPAs exhibited excellent compressive resilience, tunable dielectric permittivity, high thermal insulation property (λ = 0.040 W/m∙K) and modulus (E = 1073 KPa). Additionally, due to the excellent resilience of the CPAs and tunable permittivity, a CNTs/CPA-3 composite aerogel-based strain sensor obtained by assembling the CPA-3 with carbon nanotubes (CTNs) possessed synergistically enhanced sensitivity, high selectivity and "multi-touch" stress detection, without deterioration even after 2000 cycles. Furthermore, the established mathematical model revealed the internal mechanism of the synergistic enhancement of sensing performance of sensor with strain-controllable permittivity. Thus, the fabricated CPAs might be an ideal substrate material for flexible electronic sensors in electronic power systems, and the mathematical model established could also provide a reliable reference for improving the sensitivity and detection limits of sensors.