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Updated: Jan 26, 2026

Fabricating Cotton Analytical Devices
Published on: August 30, 2016
Environmentally Friendly Flexible Strain Sensor from Waste Cotton Fabrics and Natural Rubber Latex
Xinzhu Chen1, Jing An2, Guangming Cai3
1National Engineering Laboratory for Advanced Textile Processing and Clean Production, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430073, China. cxz_wtu@163.com.
Abstract:
A green approach was successfully developed to fabricate flexible sensors by utilizing carbonized waste cotton fabrics in combination with natural rubber latex. Waste cotton fabrics were firstly carbonized by heat treatment in the nitrogen atmosphere before they were combined with natural rubber latex using three methods, i.e., vacuum bagging, negative pressure adsorption and drop coating. After impregnation with natural rubber, the carbonized cotton maintained the fabric structure and showed good conductivity. More importantly, the electric resistance of the textile composites changed with the tensile strain. The cyclic stretching-releasing tests indicated that the prepared wearable flexible strain sensors were sensitive to strain and stable under cyclic loading. The flexible strain sensor also demonstrated the capability of monitoring human finger and arm motion.
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