Highly Conductive PVA/Ag Coating by Aqueous in Situ Reduction and Its Stretchable Structure for Strain Sensor

Highly stretchable fiber-based strain sensor is essential to develop various applications in intelligent textiles, biomedical electronics, and integrated circuits. Although several fiber-based strain sensors have been reported, attaining the balance between excellent stretchability, high conductivity, and controllable sensitivity remains challenging. Herein, we present a facile approach for fabricating highly conductive, stretchable, and sensitive fiber strain sensors by synthesizing poly(vinyl alcohol)/Ag nanoparticle composite coating through aqueous in situ reduction on a stretchable fiber with a braided structure. The conductive coating with a flexible structure shows an ultrahigh conductivity of 120 903 S/cm. The unique braided structure and dense conductive Ag network enable the strain sensor to simultaneously exhibit 150% of strain sensing, controllable gauge factor from 1.85 to 8.14 within 65% strain, and a rapid response time of 75 ms. Meanwhile, long-term durability and low hysteresis are other initial features of the fiber-based strain sensor. Most importantly, the fiber-based strain sensor is capable of detecting human motions, including vocal cord vibration, finger movements, walking, and running, exhibiting significant potential in real-time monitoring and intelligent textiles.