Structure design and application of fabric-based wearable piezoresistive sensor

The flexible piezoresistive sensor is a new type of pressure sensing equipment. Because of its high sensitivity, easy deformation, light weight and strong shape-preserving ability, it has been widely concerned. However, flexible piezoresistive sensors often use polymer as substrate, which has some disadvantages such as high manufacturing cost, poor permeability and comfort. So it has hindered its development in the wearable field. In contrast, the textile fabric is light and elastic, with flexible weaving and unique porous structure. The sensor made with it has excellent flexibility, skin-friendly and breathability, and the interweaving of yarns and the multi-stage structure of rough fiber surfaces also greatly enhance the sensitivity of the sensor. Therefore, textile fabrics are ideal candidates for new flexible substrates. In this paper, based on the fiber/yarn (1D) piezoresistive sensor and the fabric (3D) piezoresistive sensor, the design process of textile piezoresistive sensor substrate is systematically finished. Secondly, the manufacturing method of fabric-based piezoresistive sensor is discussed. Then, the applications of textile-based piezoresistive sensors in the fields of motion monitoring, medical service and human-computer interaction are described. At last, the paper summarizes and discusses the optimization direction of textile sensor in the future.