A Bio-inspired, Thrombus-Mimetic Architecture in Liquid Metal Strain Sensors Achieving Ultra-High Sensitivity and Wide Range Response

Abstract This paper presents a bio-inspired liquid metal strain sensor achieving high sensitivity and wide sensing range through a localized flow-limiting design. By integrating rigid PDMS inserts into a soft Ecoflex matrix, tensile strain induces local microchannel constriction, producing exponential resistance changes. The sensor delivers a gauge factor (GF) of 0.343 at 0–50% strain (36-fold enhancement) and 296 at 130–150% strain (15,000-fold enhancement), along with a pressure sensitivity of 19.1 MPa–1 (922-fold enhancement). It maintains excellent stability with only 1.5% resistance degradation after 300 cycles. Through pre-stretching to access the high-sensitivity regime, the sensor successfully demonstrates voice recognition, pulse waveform analysis capable of distinguishing "Cun-Guan-Chi" pulse positions, and gesture-based robotic control. This work provides an effective strategy for developing high-performance flexible sensors for healthcare monitoring and human–machine interaction applications.