Biomimetic-inspired highly sensitive flexible capacitive pressure sensor with high-aspect-ratio microstructures

The high sensitivity flexible capacitive pressure sensor (FCPS) manufactured in a fast and efficient way has friendly man-machine interaction function. In this paper, a high-sensitivity FCPS is developed by using a two-step template method to reproduce biomimetic microtower polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) from the lotus leaf surface. The capacitive sensor is composed of a PDMS dielectric layer and the Cu nanowire electrodes sandwiching in the middle, with a high sensitivity of ~1.207 kPa−1, a low detection limit of less than 0.02 kPa and a fast response time of 61.6 ms. Particularly, the sensing performance can be kept basically unchanged when bent at a 5 mm radius. Moreover, the FCPS can withstand 4000 repeated tests and maintain stable performance, and the sensitivity is almost the same in the process of loading and unloading, suggesting the high robustness. These results demonstrates the FCPSs have potential applications in electronic wearables, human health monitoring and uneven surface applications. [Display omitted] •A high-sensitivity FCPS is developed by using a two-step template method to reproduce biomimetic microtower structure.•The flexible capacitive sensor has a high sensitivity of ~1.207 kPa-1 and a fast response time of 61.6 ms.•Particularly, the sensing performance can be kept basically unchanged when bent at a 5 mm radius.