Stretchable Pressure Sensor Using Thermoplastic Polyurethane and Conductive Inks

The development of wearable health devices is an emerging technology, and pressure sensors have been widely used in several of these applications. Plenty of research within pressure sensors is focused on tactile sensing and artificial skin. In this paper, a highly flexible and stretchable pressure sensor is presented. The sensor comprises stretchable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) film as substrate and stretchable conductive inks as electrodes and sensing material. Screen printing is used to fabricate electrodes and pressure sensing components on TPU sheets. Electrical and mechanical properties of the fabricated sensors indicate good mechanical and electrical stability while retaining pressure sensing properties and marginal deterioration even after 100 elongation cycles. The findings show that the presented stretchable pressure sensor has a great potential for usage on surfaces where bending and stretching will occur while retaining nearly all of its electrical and mechanical capabilities. The proposed sensor may be employed as a wearable device to detect human movements.