posted on 2021-11-15, 15:34authored byHui Li, Shulong Chang, Meng Li, Keheng Hou, Lei Han, Anyuan Cao, Hongbian Li, Yuanyuan Shang
The
development of flexible and wearable electronic devices has
put an increasing demand on electrode systems with seamless connection
and high compatibility with the main device, in order to accommodate
complex deformation conditions and maintain stable performance. Here,
we present a carbon nanotube-integrated electrode (CNTIE) by wet-pulling
the ends of a carbon nanotube (CNT) film to form condensed thin fibers
that resemble conventional conducting wire electrodes. A flexible
strain sensor was constructed consisting of the middle CNT film as
the main functional part and the CNTIE as self-derived electrodes,
with inherent CNT connection between the two parts. The sensor can
be transferred to versatile substrates (e.g., balloon surface) or
encapsulated in thermoplastic polymers, exhibiting a large linear
response range (up to 1000% in tensile strain), excellent durability
and repeatability over 5000 cycles, and the ability to detect small-
to large-degree human body motions. In addition, the strain sensor
based on the CNTIE hybrid film (MXene/CNT and graphene/CNT) also shows
superior linearity and stability at a strain range of 0–800%.
Compared with the sensors using traditional silver wire electrodes
and separately fabricated CNT fiber electrodes, our CNTIE plays an
important role in achieving highly stable performance in the strain
cycles. Our self-derived integrated electrodes provide a potential
route to solve the incompatibility issues of conventional electrodes
and to develop high-performance flexible and wearable systems based
on CNTs and other nanomaterials.