Abstract:
In order to solve the problems of poor mechanical properties and low sensitivity of flexible strain sensors, inspired by the structure of tendon, flexible polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and rigid cellulose nanofiber (CNF) were used to simulate the flexible and rigid chain segments of tendon, and fewer layers MXene were used as conductive functional active materials, MXene-CNF/PVA conductive hydrogel (MCP hydrogel) with anisotropic structure was prepared by directional freezing method with compound of MXene, CNF and PVA. On this basis, the flexible strain sensor was prepared with MCP hydrogel as sensing element, encapsulated flexible sensors with double-sided conductive copper strip and 3M HVB tape. The effects of different material combinations on the morphology and structure of hydrogels were studied by means of SEM, tensile test machine and electric bridge, and the mechanical properties of MCP hydrogels with different material ratios were explored. The sensing and application properties of flexible sensor based on MCP hydrogels were tested and analyzed. The results show that the prepared MCP hydrogel with tendon-like anisotropic and excellent mechanical properties (breaking strength is 1.57 MPa, Young's modulus is 0.131 MPa, toughness is 2.16 MJ/m
3). The flexible sensor base on MCP hydrogel has good sensitivity (GF=6.31) and resistance to tensile fatigue (
1600 cycles). In addition, the sensor can accurately sense human physiological signals and different types of motion signals. This research provides ideas for the design of wearable sensors and is expected to broaden the application scenarios of wearable sensors.