High-performance strain sensors based on bilayer carbon black/PDMS hybrids

With the development of mechatronics, flexible and soft strain sensors have attracted increasing attention because of their potential applications in emerging fields of health monitoring, human motion detection, humanoid robots, and so forth. In order to meet the needs for these aforementioned applications, a reliable strain sensor with a high sensibility, excellent stability, and viable for large-scale production is necessary. In this work, a strain sensor with outstanding performance based on a bilayer hybrid structure, which is composed of a carbon black (CB) conducting layer and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) flexible layer, was designed and fabricated. The sensor possesses a high sensitivity and a large tensile strain up to 100%. In addition, it also maintains excellent reversibility after more than 10,000 cycles of stretch to 60% strain. The high sensitivity and large tensile range of the strain sensor enable widespread application in the detection of both large-strains and subtle human motions.