Hybrid strategy of graphene/carbon nanotube hierarchical networks for highly sensitive, flexible wearable strain sensors

Yiyi Li; Qinqin Ai; Linna Mao; Junxiong Guo; Tianxun Gong; Yuan Lin; Guitai Wu; Wen Huang; Xiaosheng Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-00307-5

Hybrid strategy of graphene/carbon nanotube hierarchical networks for highly sensitive, flexible wearable strain sensors

Sci Rep. 2021 Oct 25;11(1):21006. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-00307-5.

Authors

Yiyi Li^{1

2}, Qinqin Ai², Linna Mao², Junxiong Guo^{2

3}, Tianxun Gong², Yuan Lin², Guitai Wu⁴, Wen Huang^{5

6}, Xiaosheng Zhang⁷

Affiliations

¹ Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Huzhou, 313001, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China.
³ School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, 610106, China.
⁴ School of Electrical Engineering and Automation, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, Ganzhou, 341000, China.
⁵ Yangtze Delta Region Institute (Huzhou), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Huzhou, 313001, China. uestchw@uestc.edu.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China. uestchw@uestc.edu.cn.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China. zhangxs@uestc.edu.cn.

Abstract

One-dimensional and two-dimensional materials are widely used to compose the conductive network atop soft substrate to form flexible strain sensors for several wearable electronic applications. However, limited contact area and layer misplacement hinder the rapid development of flexible strain sensors based on 1D or 2D materials. To overcome these drawbacks above, we proposed a hybrid strategy by combining 1D carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and 2D graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), and the developed strain sensor based on CNT-GNP hierarchical networks showed remarkable sensitivity and tenability. The strain sensor can be stretched in excess of 50% of its original length, showing high sensitivity (gauge factor 197 at 10% strain) and tenability (recoverable after 50% strain) due to the enhanced resistive behavior upon stretching. Moreover, the GNP-CNT hybrid thin film shows highly reproducible response for more than 1000 loading cycles, exhibiting long-term durability, which could be attributed to the GNPs conductive networks significantly strengthened by the hybridization with CNTs. Human activities such as finger bending and throat swallowing were monitored by the GNP-CNT thin film strain sensor, indicating that the stretchable sensor could lead to promising applications in wearable devices for human motion monitoring.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't