Silver nanoflower-incorporated nanocomposite strain sensors with high reversibility for human motion detection

The practical wearable electronics applications of stretchable conductive nanocomposites have been hindered by mechanical and electrical irreversibility. Here we report a resistive-type nanocomposite strain sensor, demonstrating excellent reversibility (30% strain, 3000 cycles). The sensor element consists of flower-shaped silver nanoparticles (AgNFs) embedded in a stretchable polyurethane (PU) matrix. The thin petals of AgNFs construct efficient percolation network with neighboring AgNFs. The nanocomposite sensor shows high sensitivity (gauge factor 32.08) and impressive mechanical and electrical reversibility. The recent progress in our lab will also be introduced. Reference: [1] Compos. Sci. and Tech., 221, 109305 (2022).