Tailoring AgNWs-rGO/PVDF Advanced Composites for Flexible Strain Sensors in Wearable Electronics with Thermal Management: Balancing Sensitivity and Hysteresis

Abstract

The rapid advancement of multifunctional wearable strain sensors has substantially increased their potential applications in human–computer interfaces and health monitoring. Strain sensors generally suffer from reliable response and hysteresis, adversely impacting the sensing device’s application. This study demonstrates a “one-pot” synthesis method to converge silver nanowires (AgNWs) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets into a dual interconnected framework using the sandwiched assembly technique. AgNWs and rGO have been explored extensively due to their high electrical and thermal conductivity, optical transparency, ease of synthesis, etc. The transversely oriented AgNWs bridge the underlying longitudinal rGO sheets to effectively prevent microcrack propagation, resulting in a gauge factor of ∼11.78 at a 11.33% operating range. The microscopic structure allows the sensor to disperse heat during specific operations, exhibiting thermal conductivity of ∼1 W m^–1 K^–1. Furthermore, the sensor exhibits a highly reproducible response for >4000 cycles with minimal hysteresis (∼5.33%). This might be attributed to the dual-linked conductive network of AgNWs and rGO, which mitigates the microcrack propagation during long cycling. This study is expected to provide research insights into the multifunctional integration of human garments and wearable electronics.