Abstract
In this paper, the design and manufacturing of a highly sensitive capacitive-based soft pressure sensor for wearable electronics applications are presented. Toward this aim, two types of soft conductive fabrics (knitted and woven), as well as two types of sacrificial particles (sugar granules and salt crystals) to create micropores within the dielectric layer of the capacitive sensor are evaluated, and the combined effects on the sensor's overall performance are assessed. It is found that a combination of the conductive knit electrode and higher dielectric porosity (generated using the larger sugar granules) yields higher sensitivity (121 × 10−4 kPa−1) due to greater compressibility and the formation of air gaps between silicone elastomer and conductive knit electrode among the other design considerations in this study. As a practical demonstration, the capacitive sensor is embedded into a textile glove for grasp motion monitoring during activities of daily living.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1700237 |
| Journal | Advanced Materials Technologies |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jan 2018 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
Funding
This material was based upon the work supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. CBET-1454472), the Scientific and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Warrior Web Program (Contract No. W911NF-14-C-0051), the Wyss Institute, and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. The authors also would like to thank James Weaver for SEM images.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Science Foundation | CBET-1454472 |
| Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency |
Keywords
- capacitive sensors
- conductive fabrics
- microporous dielectric layers
- soft pressure sensors
