Hierarchical network enabled flexible textile pressure sensor with ultra-broad response range and high-temperature resistance

Abstract Thin, lightweight, and flexible textile pressure sensors with the ability to detect the full range of faint pressure (<100 Pa), low pressure (in the range of KPa) and high pressure (in the range of MPa) are in significant demand to meet the requirements for applications in daily activities and more meaningfully in some harsh environments, such as high temperature and high pressure. However, it is still a significant challenge to fulfill these requirements simultaneously in a single pressure sensor. Herein, a high-performance pressure sensor enabled by polyimide fiber fabric with functionalized carbon-nanotube (PI/FCNT) is obtained via a facile electrophoretic deposition (EPD) approach. High-density FCNT is evenly wrapped and chemically bonded to the fiber surface during the EPD process, forming a conductive hierarchical fiber/FCNT matrix. Benefiting from the large compressible region of PI fiber fabric, abundant yet firm contacting points, point-to-point contacting mode, and high elastic modulus of both PI and CNT, the proposed PI/FCNT pressure sensor can be customized and modulated to achieve both a wide linear ranges, ultra-broad sensing range, long-term stability and high-temperature resistance. Thanks to these merits, the proposed PI/FCNT(EPD) pressure sensor could monitor the human physiological information, detect tiny and extremely high pressure, can be integrated into an intelligent mechanical hand to detect the contact force under high-temperature (>300 ºC), endowing it with high applicability in the fields of real-time health monitoring, intelligent robots, and harsh environments.