Rational designed microstructure pressure sensors with highly sensitive and wide detection range performance

Highly sensitive pressure sensors are often deployed in human-machine interaction area, touch screen and human motion detection. However, there are still great challenges to fabricating with high sensitivity pressure sensor with wide-range detection. Herein, we developed a new strategy to fabricate a highly sensitive pressure sensor using sandpaper and improve its detection range using a sacrificial template. It was the fthatirst time to combine microstructure processing with the sacrificial template method to fabricate pressure sensor. The microstructure of sandpaper endowed the sensor with high sensitivity, and the elastic substrate enhanced the sensor ability to resist high pressure without being damaged. The fab-ricated sensor device exhibits a superior sensitivity of 39.077 kPa -1 in the range from 50 kPa to 110 kPa with a broad linear response. Remarkably, high pressure ceiling ( < 160 kPa) ensures that the sponge could be applied in different practical conditions to monitor a range of subtle human motions including finger, wrist bending, and pulse. For applications, the sensor device can not only detect the foot stepping be-havior (0.7 MPa) but also produce an obvious response to an extremely slight paper (9 mg, similar to 0.9 Pa). The successful preparation of this micro-structured elastic sponge material provided new ideas for exploring its potential applications in pressure sensors and flexible wearable electronic devices. (c) 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The editorial office of Journal of Materials Science & Technology.