High sensitivity iontronic flexible pressure sensor based on microstructured electrodes for wearable devices

Flexible pressure sensors play a crucial role in many fields such as wearable devices, biomedicine, and intelligent robot sensing. This study proposes a high sensitivity iontronic flexible pressure sensor based on microstructured electrodes. The pressure detection range of this flexible pressure sensor is 0–850 kPa. Within the detection range of 0–20 kPa, the sensitivity can reach up to 2.0365 kPa−1at most. It also shows good repeatability, stability and durability, and has a short response time (100 ms) and recovery time (50 ms). After a series of practical application tests, this flexible pressure sensor has successfully monitored tiny movements of parts such as the throat, face, eyebrows, and wrists, such as speaking, swallowing, breathing, smiling, frowning and pulse, as well as larger movements such as finger bending. This sensor is not only innovative in its material structure but also meets the requirements of the instrumentation and measurement field in terms of measurement performance and calibration methods, providing high-precision measurement solutions for applications such as wearable medical devices, human health monitoring, and robot skin.