A fiber-shaped light-emitting pressure sensor for visualized dynamic monitoring. Issue 3 (8th January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhou, Xufeng; Xu, Xiaojie; Zuo, Yong; Liao, Meng; Shi, Xiang; Chen, Chuanrui; Xie, Songlin; Zhou, Peng; Sun, Xuemei; Peng, Huisheng
• Is Part Of: Journal of materials chemistry. Volume 8:Issue 3(2019)
• Page Start: 935
• Page End: 942
• Publication Date: 2020-01-08
• Subjects: Materials -- Periodicals; Chemistry, Analytic -- Periodicals; Optical materials -- Research -- Periodicals; Electronics -- Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/c9tc05653j
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2050-7526

Abstract

Abstract : A fiber-shaped light-emitting pressure sensor is achieved to simultaneously detect and visualize force stimuli in one single device. Abstract : The development of fiber-shaped pressure sensors is on the rise due to their high flexibility, breathability and integrability for promising applications in human-activity monitoring and personal healthcare. Achieving simultaneous dynamic monitoring and real-time visualization in one fiber-shaped sensor is attractive but remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate a fiber-shaped light-emitting pressure sensor to simultaneously detect and visualize the force stimuli. This sensor is realized by the design of a coaxial structure composed of a micro-patterned polymer composite hollow fiber as the sheath and a fiber electrode as the core. The sheath embedded with electroluminescent phosphors serves as both pressure-sensing and light-emitting layers. The resulting fiber-shaped sensor not only presents a high capacitive sensitivity of 16.81 N −1, but also allows people to visualize the real-time intensity and distribution of the force stimuli through electroluminescence. Impressively, our sensor still affords high flexibility and robustness even under recurring large deformations. As a demonstration, the fiber-shaped sensors have been woven into a smart textile and directly worn on human skin to monitor and display human activities like finger motion and facial expression. The textile-type visualizing–sensing platform proposed in this work may aid in pushing human-activity monitoring and personal healthcare a step forward.