Highly conductive, washable and super-hydrophobic wearable carbon nanotubes e-textile for vacuum pressure sensors

In this work, the functionalized sensitive, wearable and washable vacuum pressure sensor suitable for smart electronic textile (e-textile) based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with unique nanostructures grown on the low cost and eco-friendly non-woven fabric (NWF) by using a novel and facile nano-soldering method were reported. The sensitive resistance of the vacuum pressure sensor decreases linearly with the logarithmic pressure, and the measurement range is at least one order of magnitude wider than that of the previous sensors, and the sensitivity was very linear corresponding to pressures from 7.3×10−5 to 1.0 ×103 mbar. Under the final pressure, the flexible vacuum pressure sensor has maximum sensitivity of 3.06 and low power consumption of 0.21 mW. And the pressure sensitive mechanism is reasonably explained by using oxygen chemisorption. Moreover, the CNTs e-textile sensors show good repeatability, washability, durability and super-hydrophobic performance, and it can be used for smart clothes, flexible sensors by monitoring vacuum pressures in real time. [Display omitted] •The wearable vacuum pressure sensor based on CNTs e-textiles were fabricated on the eco-friendly NWF.•The resistance of the CNTs e-textile sensors are linearly sensitive to pressures and the measurement range is wide.•The CNTs e-textile sensors show good repeatability, washability, durability and super-hydrophobic performance. Electronic textiles (e-textiles) have shown promise applications in wearable electronics and multifunctional smart clothes due to the combination of the advanced electronic functions, ultra-lightweight and flexibility. In this work, we report the functionalized conductive, sensitive, wearable and washable vacuum pressure sensor based on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) e-textile with unique nanostructures growth on the non-woven fabric (NWF) by using the novel and facile nano-soldering method. The electronic resistance of the CNTs e-textile sensor is sensitive to vacuum pressure and show the good linearity, the high sensitivity with a maximum sensitivity of 3.06, the wide measurement ranges from 7.3×10−5 to 1.0 ×103 mbar, and low power consumption of 0.21 mW. And the pressure sensitive mechanism is discussed, and the oxygen chemisorption and energy band were used to reasonably explained it. Moreover, the conductive CNTs e-textile sensors show good repeatability, washability, durability and super-hydrophobic performance, and it can be used for smart clothes, flexible senso