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Highly Stretchable Strain Sensors Based on

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Article in Journal of Materials Chemistry C April 2016

DOI: 10.1039/C6TC00300A

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A highly stretchable strain sensor based on a

graphene/silver nanoparticle synergic conductive
Cite this: J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016,
4, 4304 network and a sandwich structure
Song Chen, Yong Wei, Xue Yuan, Yong Lin and Lan Liu*

Received 21st January 2016,
Accepted 1st April 2016
DOI: 10.1039/c6tc00300a
www.rsc.org/MaterialsC
Strain sensors with superb stretchability are highly desirable for applications in wearable devices. Here
we report a simple method via immersion-swelling followed by in situ reduction to fabricate a highly
stretchable strain sensor with a graphene/AgNPs synergic conductive network and a sandwich structure
(i.e., one insulating layer sandwiched between two conductive layers). In the strain sensor, AgNPs were
in situ formed without adding any other organic stabilizer, and graphene nanosheets acted as a
conductive bridge between them, ensuring the wearable sensor excellent initial electrical conductivity
(s E 1.4  105 S m1). During stretching, the pure graphene/TPU insulating layer of the sandwich
structure maintained the high stretchability, and the graphene located between the cracks of AgNPs
resulted in the connection of conductivity networks under high strain (1000% maximum strain). What is
more, the low detection limit (0.5%), high gauge factor (7 at 50% strain, 476 at 500% strain) and high
working stability (more than 1000 cycles at 50% strain) of the strain sensor enable it to meet the needs
for numerous applications in wearable devices.

1. Introduction conductive fillers gained wide attention because of their large

With the development of stretchable and flexible sensors,
conductors with eective response and conductivity under
large strains become quite critical for many new applications,
such as stretchable displays,1,2 wearable electronics,35 human-
motion sensors610 and artificial muscles.11 Traditional piezo-
resistive sensors1214 are often used in wearable devices because
of their high sensitivity to external forces. However, the above-
mentioned traditional strain sensors are not suitable for these
new applications because they can withstand only very limited
strain (o5%) before fracture. To overcome this hurdle, one
approach is to design wave-like or spring-shaped structures.1518
However, structuring metal strips with wavy or spring geometries
involve time-consuming, sequential lithography and etching
processes that are not easily scalable.1921 Additionally, very low
sensitivities or gauge factors (GF r 1) limit their applications
as wearable devices.22 Another route takes advantage of the
structure of multi-dimensional conductive fillers, such as metal
nanoparticles,23,24 graphene,2528 carbon nanotubes (CNTs),9,22
and silver nanowires.2931 In this route, one-dimensional (1D)
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Lab of Guangdong Province for
High Property and Functional Polymer Materials, South China University of
Technology, Guangzhou 510641, P. R. China. E-mail: psliulan@scut.edu.cn
Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/
c6tc00300a
aspect ratios and conducting pathways that can bridge cracked
regions while being subjected to large strains.32,33 Carbon
nanotubes or metal nanowires are often used by either embed-
ding directly in the elastomeric material or depositing on the
surface of stretchable substrates. There also exists a shortcoming
to this strategy, where incorporation of high concentrations of
conductive fillers such as CNTs into the polymer matrix increases
the stiffness and decreases the stretchability of the resultant
composite.34 Therefore, it is very important to fabricate reason-
able conductive networks in a facile and safe way with high
sensitivity and high mechanical stretchability at the same time.
To obtain strain sensors with high sensitivity and stretch-
ability used as wearable devices, hybrids of conductive silver
nanoparticles (AgNPs) and 1D CNTs35 or silver nanowires
(AgNWs)36 were adopted as conductive fillers. In the strain
sensors 1D conductive fillers tend to bridge the disconnected
networks of AgNPs under strain, maintaining the conductors
with both high stretchability and sensitivity. To the best of our
knowledge, 2D nanosheets have more eective contact area
with AgNPs in comparison with 1D nanofillers. Graphene (GE),
a two-dimensional (2D) hexagonally structured material, con-
sisting of sp2-bonded carbon atoms, is an ideal candidate for
strain sensors and has been used extensively because of its
outstanding electrical and mechanical properties. Appropriate
strategies such as creating buckled or spring structures37,38 or
developing three dimensional (3D) micro-wrinkled graphene39

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for originally rigid materials have been widely used for strain
sensors. These strategies can be employed to improve the
stretchability of graphene to 3050%, which unfortunately are
still unsatisfying for efficient human-motion detection where
the maximum strain exceeds 50%.
In this article, we describe a simple immersion-swelling
followed by an in situ reduction method to develop a TPU strain
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sensor composed of a GE/AgNP synergic conductive network
and a sandwich structure. In the strain sensors since AgNPs
were formed in situ without adding other stabilizers they
showed high original conductivity (s E 1.4  105 S m1) and
due to the pure graphene/TPU insulating layer of the sandwich
structure and the graphene located between the cracks of
AgNPs under strain, the strain sensors had a high stretchability
of 1000%. Additionally, the strain sensors exhibited a low
detection limit (0.5%), high gauge factor (7 at 50% strain,
476 at 500% strain) and high working stability (more than
1000 cycles at 50% stretching). To demonstrate the capability of
the strain sensors, wearable applications were fabricated and
their performances were characterized.
2. Experimental
2.1 Materials
Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU, polyester-based, E270) was
provided by Shandong Miracll Chemicals Co., Ltd. The TPU
exhibited high elongation at break up to 1250%, and the stress
strain curve of pure TPU is shown in Fig. S1 (ESI). Graphite
powder was purchased from Shanghai Colloidal Co. Ltd. Silver
trifluoroacetate (AgCF3COO, 98%) was bought from J&K tech-
nology Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China). N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP),
hydrazine hydrate (N2H4H2O), and anhydrous ethanol were
obtained from Tianjin DaMao Chemical Reagents Factory.
Toluene was bought from Guangzhou Chemical Reagents
Factory. All the chemicals were commercially available analytical
grade reagents and were used without further purification.
2.2 Preparation of the composite GE/TPU strip
Graphene/NMP suspension (0.2 mg mL1) was obtained from
exfoliation of natural graphite powder based on Colemans
liquid exfoliation method.40,41 After that, dierent amounts of
TPU were dissolved in graphene/NMP suspension at 50 1C
using a magnetic stirring mixer, the solution was then homo-
genized in an ultrasonic bath for 2 h. NMP was subsequently
removed by evaporation for 6 h at 120 1C. The resultant GE/TPU
film was peeled o from the hotplate after cooling down. The
GE/TPU strip was obtained by cutting the GE/TPU film into
a long rectangle strip with the thickness, width, and length of
300 mm, 800 mm, and 5 cm, respectively.
2.3 Fabrication of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip with high
conductivity and stretchability
The GE/TPU strip was immersed in 20 wt% AgCF3COO/toluene
solution (the solution was prepared by dissolving 400 mg of
AgCF3COO in 1.6 g of toluene) for 120 min. Next, the swollen
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GE/TPU strip was removed from the Ag precursor solution and
dried at room temperature for 5 min. After that, the swollen
GE/TPU strip was put on a steel wire gauze in a PTFE tank,
about 2 mL of N2H4H2O solution (50 wt%) was dropped into
the PTFE tank to reduce the swollen GE/TPU strip at 70 1C for
15 min. Finally, the residual reducing agent was rinsed out
several times using DI water and ethanol, and the strip was
dried on a hot plate for 15 min at 70 1C. Since hydrazine hydrate
is very dangerous, the material must be handled very carefully.
2.4 Fabrication of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strain sensor
The GE/AgNPs/TPU strain sensor was fabricated by simply mounting
two tinned electrodes on the two ends of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip
using conductive silver paste.
2.5 Integration of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strain sensor with the
PDMS film
The GE/AgNPs/TPU strain sensor was integrated into a PDMS
film for sensing bending. The PDMS mixture (a 10 : 1 mixture of
the PDMS prepolymer and the curing agent, Sylgrad-184, Dow
Corning) was stirred for 2 min and dropped into a mould
(60 mm  10 mm  3 mm), the PDMS was cured at 90 1C for
2 h and carefully peeled o to get a PDMS film (60 mm 
10 mm  3 mm). Tinned wires (2 mm in diameter) were
connected to the two ends of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip as
external electrodes with the help of conductive silver paste.
Then the strip (40 mm in length) was put on to the PDMS film
and the two ends were fixed by adhesive tape.
2.6 Characterization
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis was carried out
using a Kratos Axis Ultra DLD electron spectrometer (Kratos Co.
Ltd, Manchester, England). SEM and TEM images were taken
using a NanoSEM 430 instrument (FEI Co. Ltd, Hillsboro,
America) and a JEOL JEM-2100HR instrument (EDAX Inc.,
Mahwah, America), respectively. The mechanical properties
were measured using a U-CAN UT-2060 instrument at room
temperature with a tensile rate of 30 cm min1. The stretching
of the samples, progressive cycling experiments, recycle experi-
ments and LED test were conducted at room temperature using
a digital force gauge (CK-50HB, Fuzhou Aipu Instruments Co.,
Ltd, as shown in Fig. 4e and f) with a constant strain rate of
1 mm s1. Simultaneously, the resistance of the samples was
recorded using a TEGAM 1740 micro ohmmeter (data acquisition
rate was 20 s1). Two copper sheets were attached tightly on the
two ends of sample with clamps (as shown in Fig. 4e and f) for
contacting the sample.
3. Results and discussion
3.1 Fabrication of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip with high
conductivity and stretchability
High quality graphene was prepared by a liquid exfoliation
process in NMP. Fig. S2 (ESI) shows the TEM image of graphene,
and the nanosheets are approximately 400500 nm in size.
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By dissolving TPU in the graphene suspension and drying, the
GE/TPU strip is obtained. Intrinsically, the TPU molecular
chain shrinks and curls under natural conditions. When the
GE/TPU strip is immersed in toluene, the TPU swells and the
molecular chain extends greatly and becomes loose. Therefore,
Ag ions can be absorbed into the GE/TPU strip in a short time
and reduced into AgNPs in the hydrazine hydrate steam. Fig. S3a
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and b (ESI) present the typical change in GE/TPU strips before
and after swelling in toluene solution with a AgCF3COO mass
fraction of 20 wt%. It is clearly observed that the length of the
GE/TPU strip extends to 130% from 5 cm to 6.5 cm after swelling.
After AgCF3COO is reduced into AgNPs, the length of the strip
shortens from 6.5 cm to 5.3 cm and the color of the strip turns
from black to argent and to silver gray after removing AgNPs
from the surface using 3 M tape (shown in Fig. S3c and d, ESI).
To explore the swelling process, the swelling ratio of the GE/TPU
strips was investigated by measuring the change in mass and lateral
dimensions as a function of the swelling time and AgCF3COO
concentration. The swelling degree gradually approaches a
saturated value of 130133% in length when the swelling time
is 60 minutes and the concentration of AgCF3COO is 13 wt%
(Fig. 1a and b). However, the swelling ratio in mass reaches a
saturated value of 228% when swelling time is 90 minutes and
the AgCF3COO solution concentration is 19 wt%. Evidently, the
swelling ratio in mass lags behind the swelling ratio in length,
which is because Ag+ can interact with the secondary amino
group (NH) and the ester group (COO) on the TPU molecular
chain, resulting in Ag+ absorbing into the strip after the swelling
process was finished (Fig. 1c). The XPS spectra of AgCF3COO and
the swollen TPU strip reveal that the binding energies of Ag 3d5/2
and 3d3/2 peaks shift from 367.8 eV and 373.7 eV to 363.8 eV and
374.2 eV (Fig. 1d) after swelling, demonstrating the interaction
between AgCF3COO and the TPU molecular chain (Fig. 1c).
The GE/AgNPs/TPU strips with dierent amounts of gra-
phene were characterized with regard to the applied strain.
Fig. 1 (a) Swelling ratio in length and mass of the GE/TPU strip with
dierent swelling times in AgCF3COO solution. (b) Swelling ratio in length
and mass of the GE/TPU strip with dierent concentrations of AgCF3COO.
(c) Schematic illustration of the swelling process and the Ag+ absorption
process resulting from the interaction between Ag+ and the TPU mole-
cular chain. (d) XPS spectra of Ag3d5/2 and 3d3/2 for AgCF3COO and the
swollen TPU strip.
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Fig. 2 Plot of the relative resistance change of strips fabricated with
variable amounts of graphene under increasing strain.
Fig. 2 shows the relative resistance change (R/R0, where R and
R0 are the real-time and the original resistance, respectively) of
the strips as a function of applied strain. As can be seen,
the R/R0 of AgNPs-embedded TPU strips without graphene
increases drastically to 1000 at 310% strain. In contrast, the
GE/AgNPs/TPU strips do not lose their electrical conductivity
significantly and their relative resistance increases to 1000 with
strains at 410%, 470% and 365% corresponding to the gra-
phene concentrations at 0.15, 0.5 and 1.0 wt%, respectively.
Moreover, the strips containing 0.25 wt% graphene show
the best performance in terms of resistance change under
applied strain, the relative resistance is as low as 360 with
500% applied strain. This is attributed to the fact that excess
graphene (40.25 wt%) tends to aggregate in highly viscous TPU
polymer solution due to the van der Waals interactions,42 the
aggregated graphene would hinder the charge transfer between
conductive fillers under strain, thereby increasing the R/R0
faster. The GE/AgNPs/TPU strip containing 0.25 wt% graphene
was chosen as the strain sensor and the bending sensor in the
later sections.
The good stretchability of the strips could be explained by
the structure of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip. As shown in Fig. 3ac,
AgNPs are successfully synthesized inside and on the outside of
the GE/TPU strip, and most diameters of AgNPs are less than
100 nm (shown in Fig. 3c insert). The thickness of AgNPs in the
strips reaches 10 mm, which makes the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip to
obtain a sandwich structure (shown in Fig. 3a) containing two
conductive layers on the top and bottom and one insulating
layer in the middle. The two conductive layers containing
AgNPs and graphene ensure the GE/AgNPs/TPU strips high
initial conductivity (Fig. 3b insert, R = 2.490 O, s E 1.4 
105 S m1). In addition, it is well known that the addition of
rigid fillers (such as AgNPs and AgNWs) into the matrix could
lead to the increase in the stiffness of the composite,34 but in
our work the insulating layer in the middle of the sandwich
structure precisely maintains the high flexibility and stretch-
ability. Therefore, the sandwich structure of the GE/AgNPs/TPU
strips ensures both initial conductivity and stretchability.
On the other hand, the graphene embedded GE/AgNPs/TPU
strips present higher stretchability than the AgNPs/TPU strips
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Fig. 3 (a and b) Cross-sectional SEM images of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip
with dierent magnifications, the insert in (b) shows the digital photograph
of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip and resistance measurement. (c) Surface SEM
image of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip, the insert shows the diameter distribu-
tion of AgNPs.
without graphene. This could be explained by that graphene
can act as a conductive bridge between the broken AgNP
networks under large stretchability. The comparison of the
AgNPs/TPU strips (with and without graphene) is illustrated
in Fig. 4ad. The longitudinal regions inside the AgNPs/TPU
strips with and without graphene before (Fig. 4a and c) and
after (Fig. 4b and d) stretching are investigated. Once the
concentration of AgNPs is enough to meet the percolation
threshold, AgNPs in the strips can connect with each other,
forming long-range connectivity thereby exhibiting electrical con-
ductivity by the electron hopping36,43 (shown in Fig. 4a and c).
After a higher strain is applied, the longitudinal distance between
AgNPs is too far and cracks form between the AgNP networks
(shown in Fig. 4b and d). So the AgNPs/TPU strips without
Fig. 4 (a and b) SEM and the corresponding schematic images of AgNPs inside the AgNPs/TPU strips without graphene before (a) and after (b) stretching
(100% strain). (c and d) SEM and the corresponding schematic images of AgNPs and graphene inside the GE/AgNPs/TPU strips with graphene before (c)
and after (d) stretching (100% strain). (e and f) Digital photographs showing that the 0.25 wt% graphene embedded GE/AgNPs/TPU strip is conductive
after applying 1000% strain.
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graphene lose their conductivity. In contrast, the GE/AgNPs/TPU
strips can maintain high conductivity under high strain. This is
attributed to the reason that the addition of graphene can help
connect the networks between AgNPs to provide a synergic effect
in conductivity. Fig. 4d shows that graphene is located between
the cracks of AgNPs. Consequently, graphene and AgNPs can form
a synergic conductive network in the GE/AgNPs/TPU strips, when
high strain is applied, the graphene and AgNP synergic conductive
network plays an important role inside the GE/AgNPs/TPU strips,
resulting in an enhancement of the electrical conductivities.
A series circuit was fabricated to test the enhancement of
conductivities under high stretchability by integrating a red
light emitting diode (LED) with the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip and
the operating voltage was 9 V. Fig. 4e and f show photographs
of the illuminated LED without strain and 1000% strain. As can
be seen in the photographs, the LED can still work even under
1000% strain, illustrating the high stretchability of the strip.
3.2 Performance of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strain sensor
The GE/AgNPs/TPU strip containing 0.25 wt% graphene was
chosen as the strain sensor in the later sections. Fig. 5a depicts
the relative resistance variation of the strain sensor in a 50%
stretchingreleasing cycle, from the curve, it is obvious that the
R/R0 of the strain sensor can return to 1.0 after a stretching
releasing cycle, so the strain sensor has superb elasticity and
resilience. To investigate the application of the strain sensors,
the gauge factor (G = (R/R0)/(DL/L)) was adopted to measure the
data for our strain sensor under variable strains. Fig. 5b
illustrates the gauge factor (semilog plot) of the strain sensors
as a function of strain. The exponential change in the gauge
factor at higher strain levels is attributed to the change in
GE/AgNPs synergetic networks at higher levels of elongation
(gauge factor of 7 at 50% strain to a gauge factor of 476 at
500% strain). Compared with other reported stretchable strain
sensors, our strain sensor has both high stretchability and high
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Fig. 5 (a) Changes in relative resistance under a 50% strain stretchingreleasing cycle. (b) Gauge factor of the 0.25 wt% graphene embedded GE/AgNPs/
TPU strain sensor under variable strain. (c) Relative resistance variation under gradually increasing step strain from 0.5% to 8% strain, the inset shows the
response signal input step strain of 0.5%. (d) Dynamic stretch-and-release cycle response of the sensor for various strains 25300%. Inset is the closeup
of the stretch-and-release cycles for 25%, 50%, 100% strains. (e) Change in the resistance of 0.25 wt% graphene embedded GE/AgNPs/TPU strip with no
strain and 50% applied strain during 1000 stretch and release cycles. Insets: Closeup of the selected areas.

gauge factor (see Table S1, ESI), which makes it an ideal
candidate for wearable devices.
The detection limit of the strain sensor was determined by
applying strain in gradually increasing steps (Fig. 5c). Benefiting
from the high sensitivity in a small strain range, the detection
limit can reach 0.5%, and the output signal is highly reprodu-
cible at 0.5% strain (inset in Fig. 5c). To study the dynamic
performance of the device under larger strain, the strain sensors
were subjected to dierent levels of larger strain while their
resistance was continuously measured. Fig. 5d shows the results
of five stretchingreleasing cycles at 25%, 50%, 100%, 200% and
300% strain, respectively, showing the outstanding stability and
elasticity under different strains.
In addition to high sensitivity and wide sensing range, the
performance stability of the sensor was further evaluated by
periodic stretchingreleasing cycles (50% applied strain). After
1000 cycles, the normalized resistance increase is still less than
5% (at the lowest resistance) and demonstrates high repeat-
ability, stability and durability.
3.3 Performance of the GE/AgNPs/TPU bending sensor
Because the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip has a sandwich structure
(graphene and AgNPs synergic conductive networks on the
upper and bottom conductive layers, and pure GE/TPU in the
middle insulating layer), the networks of two conductive layers
present dierent deformation under bending, so it can also be
used as a bending sensor. To detect the performance of bending,
we fixed the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip on a PDMS film. The relative
resistance values were measured as a function of chord length of
the bending sensor (Fig. 6b and e). It is generally accepted that
the chord length (c) has a relationship with curvature radius (r)
as: c = 2r  sin(l/2r), where l is the arc length of the sensor in the
bending state. The relative resistance of the bending sensor was
modulated by varying the chord length. Remarkably, the relative
resistance of the bending sensor depends on the dierent
bending directions (Fig. 6a and d). If the PDMS was bent upward
as Fig. 6a shows, the relative resistance increased with the chord
length. But if the PDMS was buckled downward as Fig. 5d shows,
the relative resistance decreased with the chord length. The
concrete change in resistance is illustrated in Fig. 6b and e and
their dierence is compared in Fig. 6g. What is more, in both
bending directions the strips have good mechanical stability and
reliability under bending or buckling after they were bent upward
or buckled downward for eight cycles and the resistance change in
real time is recorded in Fig. 6c and f respectively.
It is clearly seen that the resistance of the GE/AgNPs/TPU
sensor depends on the contact conditions of AgNPs and graphene
networks in the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip. Due to the sandwich
structure of the strip, the resistance of the bending sensor
under natural conditions can be illustrated as
R0  R0
R1 1=2R0
R0 R0
where R0 is the resistance of each graphene/AgNPs conductive
layer. When the PDMS is bent upward (Fig. 6a), the GE/AgNPs/
TPU strip has the same chord length (c) as PDMS, but their radii
of curvature (r) are dierent. Using the relationship, c = 2r 
sin(l/2r), we obtain the arc length L = 2r  arc sin(c/2r), the
length of the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip will also change during
bending. The strain Dl of the strip outside the PDMS film can

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Fig. 6 (a) Photographs of the bending sensor. (b) Resistance variation of the bending sensor in bending upward directions. Inset: the definition of the
chord length in a schematic structure. (c) Resistance variation during eight cycles of bending (chord length from 40 mm to 25 mm). (d) Photographs of
the buckling downward of PDMS. (e) Resistance variation of the bending sensor in buckling downward directions. Inset: the definition of the chord length
in a schematic structure. (f) Resistance variation during eight cycles of buckling downward (chord length from 40 mm to 25 mm). (g) A comparison of
response of the sensor to applied bending and buckling. (h) Schematic illustration of the sensing mechanism and the accompanying circuit variations
under bending. (i) Schematic illustration of the sensing mechanism under buckling and accompanying circuit variations.

be expressed as: DL = h/2r,44 where h is the thickness (about
3.3 mm) of the bending sensor, since the strip is attached outside
the PDMS, DL 4 0 (presented in Fig. 6h). The GE/AgNPs/TPU strip
is stretched in this condition, thus the relative resistance of the
bending sensor increases.
In contrast, when the PDMS film is buckled downward as
illustrated in Fig. 6d, the strip bends independent of PDMS.
The thickness h = 300 mm, so the upper layer is tensed, and
the bottom layer is compressed as illustrated in Fig. 6i. The
resistance of the bending sensor changes to
R0 DR1  R0  DR2
R2
R0 DR1 R0  DR2
where DR1 and DR2 are the changes in the upper layer and the
bottom layer respectively. Since graphene is located between
the cracks of AgNPs, DR1 { DR2. Thus the relative resistance of
the bending sensor decreases.
3.4 Applications in wearable devices
Owing to its high sensitivity and low detection limit, our strain
sensor can be used in wearable devices. At first, the strain
sensor was attached to a latex glove to detect the joint bending
motion as shown in Fig. 7. The index finger under test was kept
straight naturally, then the index finger had a moderate curva-
ture and the strain sensor had a strain as presented in Fig. 7a,
leading to a relative increase in resistance, the mechanism of
this process is the same as the PDMS in the bending sensor
bending upward. Next, the sensor relaxed after the index finger
was straightened, and then the strain decreased, accompanied
by a decrease in resistance to the original state (Fig. 7b). The
tests were also adopted to detect the other four fingers as
shown in Fig. 7cf, every time the text is repeated four cycles.
To demonstrate the sensing capability, the strain sensor was
also attached to a volunteers neck to monitor the voice vibra-
tions (Fig. 8a), and the relative resistance change is presented
in Fig. 8b and c. It is clearly observed that there are two peaks in
Fig. 8b when the volunteer says a disyllabic Hello. After the
volunteer says a short sentence Hi, how are you, four peaks
are observed in Fig. 8c, it is because there are four main
syllables in this sentence. The result shows that the strain
sensor has superb distinguishing capability for voice vibra-
tions. Every word and sentence were spoken and the resistance

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Fig. 7 (a) Photographs showing the strain sensor attached to a latex glove for recording the movements of the index finger. (bf) The results of motion
detection of the index finger (b) and the other four fingers (cf).
Fig. 8 (a) Digital photograph of the strain sensor attached to the human
neck to monitor the muscle motion during speech; (b and c) the relative
resistancetime curve for the strain sensor in response to different voices
saying Hello and Hi, how are you, respectively. This work was financially supported by the National Natural
changes were recorded three times to study the repeatability of
the strain sensor in monitoring voice, and it was observed that
similar peaks are obtained when the volunteer says the same
word or sentence. All the results reveal that the strain sensor in
this study exhibits good repeatability, stability, and responsive-
ness, and could meet the needs of innumerous applications in
wearable devices.
4. Conclusion
In summary, this work presents a very simple immersionswelling
followed by an in situ reduction method to fabricate a highly
stretchable strain sensor with graphene/AgNPs synergic conductive
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networks and a sandwich structure. When 0.25 wt% graphene and
AgNPs were embedded in the GE/AgNPs/TPU strip, the strip
exhibits superior initial conductivity of 1.4  105 S m1, high
stretchability (1000%), low detection limit (0.5%), high gauge
factor (7 at 50% strain, 476 at 500% strain) and high working
stability (more than 1000 cycles at 50% stretching). The high
stability and high stretchability are attributed to the fact that the
strip has a sandwich structure and graphene can act as a bridge
between the disconnected networks of AgNPs generated by
stretching. Critically, the resistance strongly depends on the
strain allowing the composite to function as a wearable device.
It is simple to operate and it has been developed to monitor the
human motions and shows good repeatability and stability.
Acknowledgements
Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51573053) and the
Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province
(Grant No. 2014A010105022).
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