Highly sensitive wearable strain sensor based on ultra-violet/ozone cracked carbon nanotube/elastomer

To simultaneously achieve high sensitivities (gauge factor > 100) and large stretchability (>50%) is still a grand challenge in developing the wearable strain sensors. In this study, a strain sensor with a high sensitivity up to 1020.2 and a large stretchability of 100% was developed based on ultra-violet/ ozone (UV/O-3) cracked carbon nanotubes/elastomers. The high sensitivity is ascribed to the widening of the cut-through cracks generated by the UV/O-3 surface engineering process. The UV/O-3-cracked strain sensors show potential applications in electronic skins to detect various human motion signals such as bending of the wrist, pulsing, and eye blinking. Published by AIP Publishing.