Highly Sensitive and Transparent Strain Sensors with an Ordered Array Structure of AgNWs for Wearable Motion and Health Monitoring

Sensitivity and transparency are critical properties for flexible and wearable electronic devices, and how to engineer both these properties simultaneously is dramatically essential. Here, for the first time, we report the assembly of ordered array structures of silver nanowires (AgNWs) via a simple water-bath pulling method to align the AgNWs embedded on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Compared with sensors prepared by direct drop-casting or transfer-printing methods, our developed sensor represents a considerable breakthrough in both sensitivity and transparency. The maximum transmittance was 86.3% at a wavelength of 550 nm, and the maximum gauge factor was as high as 84.6 at a strain of 30%. This remarkably sensitive and transparent flexible sensor has strictly stable and reliable responses to motion capture and human body signals; it is also expected to be able to help monitor disabled physical conditions or assist medical therapy while ensuring privacy protection.