Highly Durable and Fast Response Fabric Strain Sensor for Movement Monitoring Under Extreme Conditions

The exploration of smart electronic textiles is a common goal to improve people’s quality of life. However, current smart e-textiles still face challenges such as being prone to failure under humid or cold conditions, lack of washing durability and chemical fragility. Herein, a multifunctional strain sensor with a negative resistance change was developed based on the excellent elasticity of knitted fabrics. A reduced graphene oxide (rGO) conductive fabric was first obtained by electrostatic self-assembly of chitosan (CS). Then a strain sensor was prepared using a dip-coating process to adsorb nanoscale silica dioxide and poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). A broad working range of 60%, a fast response time (22 ms) and stable cycling durability over 4000 cycles were simultaneously achieved using the prepared sensor. Furthermore, the sensor showed excellent superhydrophobicity, photothermal effects and UV protection, as graphene, silica and PDMS acted in synergy. This multifunctional sensor could be mounted on human joints to perform tasks, including activity monitoring, medical rehabilitation evaluation and gesture recognition, due to its superior electromechanical capabilities. Based on its multiple superior properties, this sensor could be used as winter sportswear for athletes to track their actions without being impacted by water and as a warmer to ensure the wearer's comfort. Graphical abstract