A stretchable petal patterned strain sensor comprising Ir nanoparticles-modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes for human-motion detection

Abstract For flexible strain sensors, unmodified polymer substrates often have unsatisfactory performances. Herein, we report a biomimetic petal patterned polydimethylsiloxane strain sensor comprising Ir nanoparticles-modified multi-walled carbon nanotubes. Under optimal processing, the modified flexible strain sensor exhibits better comprehensive performances, such as sensitivity up to 20.33, sensing range of 0%–35%, response time of 242 ms, and more than 9000 cycles of repeated stretch–release. Moreover, it can be used for monitoring human pulse, wrist motion, and phonation. Such a facile and friendly flexible strain sensor will bring great potentials in wearable devices, human motion detection, and soft robotics.