Breathable and waterproof conductive cotton fabric pressure sensor with distinguished electrothermal and electromagnetic interference shielding performances

Flexible pressure sensors are in great demand for artificial haptic perception and human-machine interaction with the rapid artificial intelligent revolution. However, high-performance pressure sensors with high sensitivity, wide working range and good comfortability while possessing versatile functions is still a great challenge. Herein, an air-permeable and waterproof conductive cotton fabric (CF) decorated with in-situ reduced silver nanoparticles (AgCF) was prepared for pressure sensor, of which the significant contact effect between conductive fibers and interdigitated electrodes as well as adjacent fibrous skeleton endow it with ultrahigh pressure sensitivity (1134.47 kPa−1) and wide sensing range (0–98 kPa). Meanwhile, it also displayed fast response/recovery time (280 ms/220 ms) and long-term durability over 5000 cycles. All these sensing merits and excellent breathability and hydrophobicity make it applicable for wearable electronic devices for various human physical signal monitoring. Owing the high conductivity, the prepared AgCF demonstrated superior electrothermal properties including high electrothermal conversion efficiency (132.12 °C at only 1 V), controllable and stable continuous heating performances (1000 s). In addition, benefiting from the strong reflection from the electron-rich surface and effective attenuation inside the conductive fibrous network, its average electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness (EMI SE) can reach up to 102.32 dB and 107.62 dB within X and K band, respectively, and the SE also showed good harsh environment durance, enabling it to be high-efficient shielding materials for various application scenarios.