posted on 2019-08-27, 19:34authored byLongteng Yu, Yuqin Feng, Dinesh S/O M Tamil Selven, Liangsong Yao, Ren Hao Soon, Joo Chuan Yeo, Chwee Teck Lim
Wearable
sensors for smart textile applications have garnered tremendous
interest in recent years and can have enormous potential for human
machine interfaces and digital health monitoring. Here, we report
a soft capacitive microfiber sensor that can be woven seamlessly into
textiles for strain measurement. Comprising a dual-lumen elastomeric
microtube and liquid metallic alloy, the microfiber sensor enables
continual strain perception even after being completely severed. In
addition, our microfiber sensor is highly stretchable and flexible
and exhibits tunable sensitivity, excellent linearity, a fast response,
and negligible hysteresis. More importantly, the microfiber sensor
is minimally affected by train rate and compression during strain
sensing. Even under drastic environmental changes, the microfiber
sensor presents good electrical stability. By integrating the microfiber
sensor imperceptibly with textiles, we devise smart textile wearables
to interpret hand gestures, detect limb motion, and monitor respiration
rate. We believe that this sensor presents enormous potential in unobtrusive
continuous health monitoring.