Flexible Pressure Sensor with Ag Wrinkled Electrodes Based on PDMS Substrate

Flexible pressure sensors are essential components of electronic skins for future attractive applications ranging from human healthcare monitoring to biomedical diagnostics, robotic skins, and prosthetic limbs. Here we report a new kind of flexible pressure sensor. The sensors are capacitive, and composed of two Ag wrinkled electrodes separated by a carbon nanotubes (CNTs)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite deformable dielectric layer. Ag wrinkled electrodes were formed by vacuum deposition on top of pre-strained and relaxed PDMS substrates which were treated using an O₂ plasma, a surface functionalization process, and a magnetron sputtering process. Ultimately, the developed sensor exhibits a maximum sensitivity of 19.80% kPa-1 to capacitance, great durability over 500 cycles, and rapid mechanical responses (<200 ms). We also demonstrate that our sensor can be used to effectively detect the location and distribution of finger pressure.