Development of a mussel-inspired conductive graphene coated cotton yarn for wearable sensors
Guanliang He,
Chuang Zhu,
Yuze Shi,
Yingjia Yu,
Yi Wu,
Constantinos Soutis,
Le Cao,
Xuqing Liu
Affiliations
Guanliang He
Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Green Manufacturing at Yantai, Yantai, Shandong 264006, China; Department of Materials, School of Natural Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Chuang Zhu
Key Laboratory of Textile Science & Technology, Ministry of Education, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China; Corresponding author
Yuze Shi
Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Green Manufacturing at Yantai, Yantai, Shandong 264006, China
Yingjia Yu
Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Green Manufacturing at Yantai, Yantai, Shandong 264006, China
Yi Wu
Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Green Manufacturing at Yantai, Yantai, Shandong 264006, China
Constantinos Soutis
Department of Materials, School of Natural Sciences, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Le Cao
School of Electric and Control Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an 710054, China; Corresponding author
Xuqing Liu
Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Green Manufacturing at Yantai, Yantai, Shandong 264006, China; State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing, Center of Advanced Lubrication and Seal Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shanxi 710072, China; Corresponding author
Summary: Graphene-based flexible yarn sensors are promising due to their exceptional conductivity and user-friendly properties, but ensuring stable graphene adsorption on fibers for long-term durability remains challenging. Herein, we produce a flexible polydopamine (PDA)-modified cotton yarn via a simple dip-coating process using a self-made sodium deoxycholate (SDC)-modified graphene dispersion, avoiding non-biodegradable, corrosion-prone metallic coatings. The resulting sensor exhibits low electrical resistance (as low as 21.1Ω ± 0.2/cm), high bending sensitivity (resistance change rate of 3.557 ± 0.002 for bending ranges from 40% to 100%), and outstanding durability over 2,000 flexural bending cycles. It can monitor various human body movements and physiological states and be integrated into wearable electronic textiles (e-textiles) for applications like monitoring knee movements, recognizing hand gestures, and detecting thoracic respiratory status. This work highlights the sensor’s potential in personal and public healthcare applications.
