Abstract Flexible pressure sensors are highly desired in a wide variety of areas including artificial intelligence and healthcare monitoring. Amidst them, capacitive pressure sensors are advantaged for simple configuration and fast reponse speed. However, they suffer from some restrictions such as limited and fixed sensitivity as well as unsatisfactory robustness. Herein, a tunable flexible capacitive pressure sensor is realized by bioinspired capillary-driven method. The dielectric layer with double-side microstructure is developed with polycarbonate template molding (PCTEM) driven by capillary force, while the bottom and top electrodes are fabricated by a colorless polyimide (CPI) film coated with silver nanowires. The sensor exhibits a tunable sensitivity from 0.189 k Pa−1 to 5.821 k Pa−1 with an ultralow limit of detection (LOD) of ~1.5 Pa and a fast response time of ~30 ms. The sensor offers a configuration with a thickness of 130 μm and excellent robustness for fatigue test of 200,000 cycles. The pressure sensor fabricated by the PCTEM method allows sensitive and tunable pressure sensing in soft robotics and human-machine interaction. Also, the bioinspired capillary-driven PCTEM strategy may offer a guideline to design other microstructures with improved performance for varied flexible sensors.

中文翻译：

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基于仿生毛细管驱动方法的可调柔性压力传感器

摘要 柔性压力传感器在包括人工智能和医疗保健监测在内的各种领域都非常受欢迎。其中，电容式压力传感器具有配置简单、响应速度快的优势。然而，它们受到一些限制，例如有限和固定的灵敏度以及不令人满意的鲁棒性。在此，通过仿生毛细管驱动方法实现了可调柔性电容压力传感器。具有双面微结构的介电层由毛细管力驱动的聚碳酸酯模板成型 (PCTEM) 开发，而底部和顶部电极由涂有银纳米线的无色聚酰亚胺 (CPI) 薄膜制成。该传感器具有从 0.189 k Pa-1 到 5.821 k Pa-1 的可调灵敏度，超低检测限 (LOD) 为~1。5 Pa 和约 30 ms 的快速响应时间。该传感器提供厚度为 130 μm 的配置，并且在 200,000 次循环疲劳测试中具有出色的稳健性。通过 PCTEM 方法制造的压力传感器允许在软机器人和人机交互中进行灵敏和可调的压力传感。此外，仿生毛细管驱动的 PCTEM 策略可以为设计其他微结构提供指导，以改善各种柔性传感器的性能。