Flexible, stretchable, wearable electronic skins based on aligned carbon nanotube fiber arrays for motion detection and human–machine interaction.

Carbon nanotube fibers (CNTFs) have many similarities with individual aligned carbon nanotubes (ACNTs) in terms of mechanical strength and electrical and thermal conductivity. Unlike ACNTs, CNTFs are macroscopic, easy to operate and maintain strong directionality during processing, so they are much more cost-effective and have potential for economical macroscale applications in the field of electronic skins (E-skins). In this paper, novel flexion-sensitive and stretch-sensitive E-skins based on aligned CNTF (ACNTF) arrays with bridge structures are introduced. During the bending and stretching processes, their bridge positions can be relative sliding and relatively misaligned, resulting in the variation of relative resistance change (ΔR/R 0) of E-skins. By detecting the varying regularity of ΔR/R 0 , the law can be analyzed between the bending angle (θ)/stretching strain (ε) and ΔR/R 0. Furthermore, the characteristics of the prepared E-skins include a simple preparation method, large detection range (0–90 °), high durability (> 1000 cycle) and low production cost, so they have prospective applications in wearable detectors and human–machine interactions. [Display omitted] • Flexion-sensitive and stretch-sensitive E-skins are fabricated based on aligned CNTF arrays with bridge structures. • Bending and stretching detection ranges of the E-skins are 0–90 ° and 0–15%, respectively. • Electronic skins can be widely used in the fields of wearable detectors and human-machine interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]