Abstract Flexible pressure sensors are vital for wearable health monitoring, human–machine interfaces, and soft robotics. However, current studies mainly improve sensor performance through material composition and fabrication processes, while the role of internal three-dimensional structures remains insufficiently explored. Inspired by natural marine sponges, this work presents a flexible pressure sensor with a bio-inspired porous scaffold architecture. By systematically designing and simulating different lattice geometries, we demonstrate that internal spatial structure strongly affects strain distribution, electrical response, and mechanical reliability. Finite element analysis shows that, among P, G, D, and IWP triply periodic minimal surface structures, the D-type design achieves the highest sensitivity of 11.099%. Based on this result, the optimal scaffold was fabricated using a sacrificial molding approach: a water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol mold was 3D-printed, filled with conductive silicone elastomer, thermally cured, and then dissolved to obtain the standalone conductive scaffold. Experimental results confirm that lattice geometry significantly influences sensor sensitivity, with the D-type structure exhibiting the best performance and reaching 9.28% sensitivity, consistent with simulation predictions. Wearable device demonstrations further verify its practical potential for pressure sensing. This study highlights that internal structural design, alongside material selection and fabrication strategy, is a critical factor in determining flexible sensor performance, offering a promising route for advanced wearable and biomedical sensing applications.
Qu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.