Development of Eco-Friendly and High-Strength Foam Sensors Based on Segregated Elastomer Composites with a Large Work Range and High Sensitivity

Achieving a high-strength piezoresistive foam with high sensitivity and a large workable range remains a major challenge. To realize these goals, we developed a facile, novel, and eco-friendly strategy for constructing segregated microcellular structures fabricated using coating, heat compression molding, and supercritical CO 2 (ScCO 2 ) foaming. The segregated poly(ether block amide) (PEBA)/carbon nanostructure (CNS) composites were fabricated via compression molding. This effectively improved the foamability and cell morphology of PEBA/CNS composites. Moreover, compared with the randomly distributed structure, the segregated structure also endowed the foams with better conductivity and sensing capability. Subsequently, the ScCO 2 foaming was employed to fabricate segregated PEBA/CNS composite foams. The foaming gave composites a large compressibility and reduced their percolation threshold. Under 1 wt % CNS loading, via tuning the expansion ratio of foam from ∼2.1 to 4.1, the compression stress at 50% compression strain of foam varied from ∼3.3 to 0.5 MPa, and the conductivity changed from 4.89 × 10 –3 to 1.93 × 10 –6 s/m, implying a tunable conductivity. Additionally, the adjustable conductivity enabled the sensitivity of segregated composite foams to be regulated. The segregated PEBA/CNS foam (FCNS1–4.1) exhibited a good combination of high sensitivity (GF = 3.5), large work range (80% strain), and high compression strength (∼0.5 MPa at 50% strain) as well as a stable, reproducible, and durable sensing response under a low CNS content (∼0.11 vol %). Furthermore, the Δ I / I 0 of FCNS1–4.1 (75.6% porosity) reached a high value of ∼810 and exhibited an ultrahigh sensitivity of ∼3706 ( Δ I / I 0 ε ) from 60 to 80% strain. Moreover, the foam sensor could be used as a sensing function sole for monitoring diverse human motions. Therefore, the segregated PEBA/CNS composite foams with outstanding piezoresistive performances show promising potential applications in monitoring human motions as wearable electronics and provides a new design strategy for a new generation of foam sensors with high performance.