Electromechanical deformation sensors based on polyurethane/polyaniline electrospinning nanofibrous mats

• Polyurethane/polyaniline mats were prepared via elecrospinning process.
• PU/PANi mats expressed good electrical conductivity (0.43 S/cm).
• The average strain gauge factor of PU/PANi mats could reach 17.15.
• PU/PANi mats showed high strain sensitivity of (R-R0)/R0 = 0.75 (curvature = 0.4).
• PU/PANi nanofibrous mats were isotropic elasticity and electrical response.

Conducting electrospun nanofibrous mats elicit great interest in a wide range of applications. In this paper, polyurethane/polyaniline (PU/PANi) mats were prepared via the elecrospinning route with a polyurethane/dimethyl formamide spinning solution, and then in situ chemical polymerization of aniline monomers on the surface of PU nanofibers to deposit conductive PANi layer. In details, the morphology and structure of the PU/PANi mats were characterized by SEM, FTIR and the results indicated that the polyaniline stably deposited on the surface of polyurethane nanofiber. The electrical conductivity measurements indicated PU/PANi mats expressed good electrical conductivity (0.43 S/cm) at the optimal polymerization time as 120 min. As expected, PU/PANi mats showed strain sensitivity of (R-R0)/R0 = 0.75 (curvature = 0.4 cm−1) and the average strain gauge factor could reach 17.15 with applied stretching deformation (0 ∼ 110%). Therefore it could be deemed as the recommended nano-materials for flexible wearable device.