A robust stretchable pressure sensor for electronic skins

As an essential role in electronic skins, flexible pressure sensors have attracted wide attention for their applications in human-machine interaction and intelligent prosthetic, etc. Whereas, in general, it is difficult for most flexible pressure sensors to acquire high accuracy, especially under multi-modal interference (temperature, humidity and deformation). Herein, a novel stretchable flexible pressure sensor was presented by direct writing, which was capable of weakening the strain effect, fending off humidity interference and restraining thermal influence by using a double layer raised island structure substrate, a covering layer and a Wheatstone bridge-configuration of the sensing element. The sensor kept robust under multi-modal interference of strain about 0–20%, temperature of 30–80 °C and humidity in 20–90%, owning high and stable sensitivity of 2.6 kPa⁻¹–14.05 kPa⁻¹ under 0–74 kPa. Two demonstrations of grabbing a bottle with different temperatures and a kid's catching behavior on a opisthenar of a carer verified that such sensor possessed a great potential in many non-structured applications and will be a promising candidate for stretchable flexible pressure sensors in future.