Thin and high conductive multi‐walled carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane composite film prepared via solvent method as strain sensors

Abstract Flexible strain sensors based on conductive fillers and flexible polymers possessed significant advantages in human motion detection. Preparing a strain sensing layer with high electrical conductivity and excellent mechanical property under high content of conductive filler contributed to the stability of flexible strain sensors. In this study, MWCNTs/PDMS composite film was prepared by the organic solvent method. The microstructure, electrical conductivity, mechanical property, and piezoresistive characteristics of the composite film at different MWCNTs contents were characterized and discussed. When the mass fraction of MWCNTs in the composite film was 5%, the composite film exhibited a high electrical conductivity of 9.56 S/m while maintaining ideal mechanical properties, and the film thickness was just about 180 μm. The relationship between electrical signals and film strain was performed. The piezoresistive characteristic results demonstrated that the prepared composite film could be used as flexible strain sensor for human motion detection. The prepared thin MWCNTs/PDMS composite film in this paper illustrated high conductive and desired flexibility, and was an alternative material for human motion detection.