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High-performance Multilayer Flexible Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor with Bionic Hierarchical and Anisotropic Structure

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Abstract

Flexible pressure sensor that enables detection of multimodal signals has greater advantages in human–computer interaction, medical/health care, and other applications. To make a versatile flexible pressure sensor, hierarchical and anisotropy structure are key features to improve sensing performance and realize multi-signal detection. However, traditional flexible sensors usually have narrow linear range and single signal detection capability. Herein, a highly sensitive flexible piezoresistive pressure sensor which has broad linear range of pressure is developed by replicating one dimensional microstructures from reed leaf and using multilayer superposition of micropatterned polydimethylsiloxane (m-PDMS). Through superposing 4 layers of parallel micropatterned constructive substrates, the multilayer piezoresistive pressure sensor exhibits a high sensitivity of 2.54 kPa−1, a fast response time of 30 ms, and a broad linear range of 107 kPa. The flexible piezoresistive pressure sensor is also highly robust: there is no fatigue after testing for at least 1000 cycles. Due to the specific anisotropy of the micro-structure, the sensor can measure the tangential force in different directions. It permits multimode signal detection, including pressure, tangential force, and deformation. The versatile flexible pressure sensor enables effective monitoring of multisignals, it reveals great potential for medical and health care, flexible human–computer interaction, and intelligent robot.

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Data Availability

The data sets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Project of National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC2001300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (52175271, 51822504, 52021003, 52105299, 51905207, 91948302), Science and technology development plan project of Jilin Province (20210508057RQ), Program for JLU Science and Technology Innovative Research Team (2017TD-04), and Scientific Research Project of Education Department of Jilin Province (JJKH20211084KJ)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun, 130025, China

    Meng Wang, Yunhong Liang, Zhiwu Han, Suqian Ma & Lei Ren

  2. Center of Reproductive Medicine, Center of Prenatal Diagnosis, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130021, China

    Meng Wang

  3. Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, 130033, China

    Yue Yu

  4. School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130025, China

    Chunbao Liu & Zhaohua Lin

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  1. Meng Wang
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Contributions

MW, SM and ZL: designed the experiments. MW, YY and YL: performed the experiments. MW, SM and ZL: performed the data analysis. MW and SM: co-wrote the paper. ZH and LR: reviewed and edited the manuscript. CL: checked and revised the English grammar and diction of the article, and also modified the format of the references. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Suqian Ma or Zhaohua Lin.

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Wang, M., Yu, Y., Liang, Y. et al. High-performance Multilayer Flexible Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor with Bionic Hierarchical and Anisotropic Structure. J Bionic Eng 19, 1439–1448 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-022-00219-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42235-022-00219-8

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