Facile Fabrication of Flexible Pressure Sensor with Programmable Lattice Structure

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Engineering
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Flexible pressure sensors are crucial for electronic skin, human-machine interfaces, and healthcare. Traditional methods using conductive porous structures have limited designability and batch production capabilities due to random pore distribution.
• Achieving high sensitivity and repeatability in flexible pressure sensors remains a challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a structure-designable lattice structure pressure sensor (LPS) with enhanced sensitivity, linearity, and batch production capabilities.
• To explore the control over electrical and mechanical properties by adjusting design parameters.
• To demonstrate the practical applications of the developed LPS.

Main Methods:

• Utilized digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing for bottom-up fabrication of lattice structure pressure sensors.
• Employed a carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coating via high-energy ultrasonic probe and UV-heat dual-curing for enhanced durability.
• Investigated sensor performance by adjusting lattice type and layer thickness.

Main Results:

• Achieved high sensitivity (1.02 kPa⁻¹) and superior linearity over a wide pressure range (0.7 Pa to 160 kPa).
• Demonstrated excellent durability, enduring up to 60,000 compression cycles without signal degradation.
• Successfully controlled electrical sensitivities and mechanical properties by tuning design parameters.

Conclusions:

• The DLP 3D printed LPS offers a structure-designable and highly repeatable solution for flexible pressure sensing.
• The developed sensor exhibits high performance and durability, suitable for real-time pulse monitoring, voice recognition, Morse code communication, and spatial pressure distribution detection.
• Integration into sensor arrays and flexible insoles highlights the potential for advanced wearable electronics and monitoring systems.