High-Performance Flexible Piezoelectric Sensor Using Electrospun PVDF-BaTiO3 Nanofibers for Human Motion Monitoring and Recognition

Abstract

Textiles have broad application prospects in the fields of flexible sensors and intelligent wearable devices due to their excellent breathability, softness, and structural elasticity. Piezoelectric sensors have become a hot topic in the field of wearable applications due to their ability to perform long-term sensing and detection. This article enhances the performance of composite materials by adding polydopamine (PDA) to improve the interaction between polymer matrix and nanofillers, and optimizes the composite nanofiber membrane synthesized by electrospinning polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and barium titanate (BTO) nanoparticles. The content of β-phase in the optimized PVDF–BTO nanofiber membrane reached 81.58%. In bending mode, its open-circuit voltage reaches 10.36 V. Under vertical pressure conditions, when the pressure is 2.914N, the voltage of the sensor reaches 13.35 V, and the sensitivity of the nanofiber membrane is 2.918VN⁻¹, with a good linear relationship. This flexible piezoelectric sensor demonstrates various potential applications, including facial recognition, speech recognition, motion monitoring, etc. This research provides a simple and convenient way to develop high-performance self-powered wearable electronic products.