posted on 2023-01-09, 15:35authored byLibei Huang, Yong Liu, Geng Li, Yun Song, Jianjun Su, Le Cheng, Weihua Guo, Ganggang Zhao, Hanchen Shen, Zheng Yan, Ben Zhong Tang, Ruquan Ye
The development of high-performance miniaturized and
flexible airflow
sensors is essential to meet the need of emerging applications. Graphene-based
airflow sensors are hampered by the sluggish response and recovery
speed and low sensitivity. Here we employ laser-induced graphene (LIG)
with poststructural biomimicry for fabricating high-performance, flexible
airflow sensors, including cotton-like porous LIG, caterpillar fluff-like
vertical LIG fiber, and Lepidoptera scale-like suspended LIG fiber
(SLIGF) structures. The structural engineering changes the deformation
behavior of LIGs under stress, among which the synchronous propagation
of the scale-like structure of SLIGF is the most conducive to airflow
sensing. The SLIGF achieves the shortest average response time of
0.5 s, the highest sensitivity of 0.11 s/m, and a record-low detection
threshold of 0.0023 m/s, benchmarked against the state-of-the-art
airflow sensors. Furthermore, we showcase the SLIGF airflow sensors
in weather forecasting, health, and communications applications. Our
study will help develop next-generation waterflow, sound, and motion
sensors.