Lightweight, superelastic, and temperature-resistant rGO/polysulfoneamide-based nanofiber composite aerogel for wearable piezoresistive sensors

Abstract

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence, the study of flexible pressure sensors has attracted great attention from researchers. However, in the face of extreme application environments such as aerospace and national defense, higher requirements are put forward for flexible pressure-sensing active materials. In this study, a novel electrospun polysulfonamide and polyacrylonitrile (PSAN) nanofiber-reinforced three-dimensional (3D) reduced graphene oxide aerogel (GA) is designed and fabricated. The pore wall of the aerogel has a leaf-like structure, the internal micropore has a “layer-pillar” structure, and the compression strength is as high as 26.07 kPa. The assembled piezoresistive sensor has a wide detection range (24.97 kPa), high sensitivity (32.85 kPa⁻¹), and an extensive operating temperature range (−60 to 200 °C). It features a rapid response time of 300 ms at low pressure, excellent structural stability, and a sensing durability of over 3500 compression cycles. Moreover, the piezoresistive sensor can track the physiological and activity signals of the throat, face, fingers, elbows, knee joints, and other parts of the human body in real time, and has a stable sensing performance at ultra-low and high temperatures. These excellent sensing properties indicate that the GA aerogel has great application potential as a high-performance flexible piezoresistive active material in extreme environments.