Batch Fabrication of Flexible Paper-Based Pressure Sensors via Thermoplastic Self-Packaging

This paper describes a rapid method for batch fabrication of flexible paper-based pressure sensors. The processes involve printing silver electrodes on PET film using large-area screen printing, and soaking flexible papers in PEDOT: PSS aqueous dispersion. Then, papers are cut into square shaped pieces with a specific size using UV laser after drying to serve as the pressure sensing layer. The pressure sensing layers are laminated by the upper and lower electrodes to form a sandwich structure and sealed using a heat-sealing roller for thermoplastic packing. Multiple sensors are then cut and separated using UV laser. The process yields approximately 48 sensors per hour with a thickness of 0.16 mm, providing great flexibility for conformal attachment. These sensors have piecewise linearities over a pressure sensing range up to 325 kPa. They also exhibit fast excellent response time (25 ms) and recovery time (40 ms), good stability under the conditions of 2.5 Hz frequency response and 1000 cycles of loading and unloading. The simple and rapid manufacturing process makes these sensors highly promising for various applications such as robotic tactile sensing and wearable healthcare.