Superhydrophobic Conductive Suede Fabrics Based on Carboxylated Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes and Polydopamine for Wearable Pressure Sensors

Textile-based pressure sensors haveattracted considerable attentiondue to their potential to detect vital signals in humans, enhancesports performance, and facilitate human-machine interactions.However, practical challenges, such as unstable assembly structures,weak interfacial bonds with functional materials, and incompatibilitywith current established finishing technologies in production, remainsignificant obstacles to their widespread applications. This researchexplores commercially available suede fabric as a promising substratefor pressure sensing. The conductive suede sensor was readily by integratingcarboxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (C-MWCNTs) and polydopamine(PDA) and subsequently modifying it with hexadecyltrimethoxysilaneto achieve a superhydrophobic surface. The resulting suede sensor,featuring a robust PDA-(C-MWCNTs)-HDTMS chemical configuration, exhibitedsatisfactory hydrophobicity, excellent stability, and repeatability,capable of detecting pulse, throat movement, and daily human motions.Furthermore, the properties of the suede sensor can be well preservedafter 60 min of machine washing and ultrasonic cleaning, highlightingits potential in practical applications. This study provides an environmentallystable, lightweight, and well-structured substrate for high-performanceelectronic textiles suitable for large-scale production.