Flexible and highly sensitive multi-dimensional strain sensor with intersecting metal nanowire arrays

This paper presents the fabrication and characterization of multi-dimensional strain sensor that is capable of quantitative determination of the strain characteristics that can imitate the various surface strain properties. In this study, we demonstrated multi-dimensional strain sensor composed of two interlocked layers of pre-strained silver nanowire network which is capable of detecting transverse and longitudinal strain separately. By acquiring two independent electrical signals, the amplitude and the effective direction of the surface strain are calculated with high stretchability (>35%), good stability, large gauge factor (GF ∼ 20) and excellent agreement to the model predicted with 3D percolation theory. We further applied the strain sensor for controlling artificial 3D model in two dimensions by communicating with a home-made data acquisition system to confirm its high potential as a wearable skin monitoring device.