Bamboo-Inspired, Environmental Friendly PDMS/Plant Fiber Composites-Based Capacitive Flexible Pressure Sensors by Origami for Human-Machine Interaction

With the widespread adoption of green and sustainable development concepts, enhancing the sensing performance of flexible pressure sensors while reducing manufacturing costs and environmental pollution has emerged as a pressing research issue. Drawing inspiration from bamboo, a naturally occurring green plant, we utilized virgin bamboo pulp as the raw material for producing draw paper. The resulting bamboo cylinder structure serves as the dielectric layer. We propose an extremely low-cost, user-friendly, and sustainable origami method for fabricating paper-based sensors. The structural parameters of the sensor were thoroughly investigated and optimized through finite element simulations and practical experiments. Notable features of the sensor include high sensitivity (1.96 kPa(-1) within 0-50 kPa), a low detection limit (2 Pa), a wide pressure detection range (0-500 kPa), rapid response and recovery times (40 and 45 ms, respectively), and reliable durability and stability (similar to 5000 cycles). Experimental results demonstrate the successful application of these sensors in areas such as human motion, health monitoring, and human-computer interaction. The potential applications of sensors extend to flexible wearables, smart healthcare, human-machine collaboration, and electronic skin (e-skin).