Sponge Graphene Aerogel Pressure Sensors with an Extremely Wide Operation Range for Human Recognition and Motion Detection

Pressure sensors have been widely expected to be applied in wearable electronics for monitoring daily motions or healthcare information. Specifically, portable plantar pressure detection, which could enrich the gait information in customer-level application and enhance the dynamic precision in medical-level inspection, is essential in the wearable electronic field and has been widely demonstrated in reports. However, recently reported pressure sensors barely fit the demand of high-resolution plantar pressure detection due to the limited operation range: the pressure in some position of planta could be over 300 kPa in the standing state, not to mention the pressure in walking and running states. To satisfy the critical demand of plantar pressure detection, herein, we introduced a frameless self-assembled spongelike structure graphene aerogel and further developed a high-performance pressure sensor. The aerogel freeze-dried from a glycerin-decorated alginate/graphene hydrogel presents a sponge structure and helped the as-present pressure sensor to achieve an extremely wide operation range of up to 1000 kPa with high sensitivity, low detection limit, high durability, and rapid response time. Based on the extraordinary performance of the pressure sensor, we designed a high confidence portable plantar pressure phase monitoring system. This system could provide impressive plantar pressure information for recognition of different testers and detecting different daily motion states and even warning for possible slipping.