We propose a design strategy to fabricate a flexible bend sensor (BS) with ultrasensitivity toward airflow using all-poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanofiber web-based sensing elements and electrodes to monitor human respiration. The unique electrospinning (rotational speed of collector of 2000 rpm and tip-to-collector distance of 4 cm) with silver nanoparticle interfacing was introduced to prepare a Ag-doped oriented PVDF nanofiber web with high β-phase content as a sensing element (AgOriPVDF, β-phase crystallinity ∼44.5%). After that, a portion of the prepared AgOriPVDF was processed into a flexible and electrically conductive electrode through an electroless silver plating technique (SP-AgOriPVDF). Interestingly, the encapsulated AgOriPVDF BS with the SP-AgOriPVDF electrode exhibited superior piezoelectric bending response (open-circuit peak-to-peak output voltage, Vp-p ≈ 4.6 V) to injected airflow, which is more than 200 times higher than that of the unpackaged randomly aligned PVDF nanofiber web BS with a conductive tape electrode (Vp-p ≈ 0.02 V). In addition, the factors influencing the bend sensitivity of the BS such as the β-phase content, nanofiber orientation, flexibility of the electrode, and so forth were thoroughly analyzed and then discussed. We also demonstrated that the AgOriPVDF BS has sufficient capability to detect and identify various respiratory signals, presenting a great potential for wearable applications, for example, smart respiratory protective equipment.
Keywords: bend sensor design; electroless silver plating; electrospinning; nanofiber; poly(vinylidene fluoride); respiration.