Flexible and printable paper-based strain sensors for wearable and large-area green electronics

Paper-based (PB) green electronics is an emerging and potentially game-changing technology due to ease of recycling/disposal, the economics of manufacture and the applicability to flexible electronics. Herein, new-type printable PB strain sensors (PPBSSs) from graphite glue (graphite powder and methylcellulose) have been fabricated. The graphite glue is exposed to thermal annealing to produce surface micro/nano cracks, which are very sensitive to compressive or tensile strain. The devices exhibit a gauge factor of 804.9, response time of 19.6 ms and strain resolution of 0.038%, all performance indicators attaining and even surpassing most of the recently reported strain sensors. Due to the distinctive sensing properties, flexibility and robustness, the PPBSSs are suitable for monitoring of diverse conditions such as structural strain, vibrational motion, human muscular movements and visual control.