Herein, a soft and flexible polymer composite sensor with a surface structure is manufactured that is sensitive to a wide range of mechanical stimuli, including small actions and large motions. A polymer sensor performing with a piezoresistive mechanism is proposed by synthesizing a new conductive polymer composite to fabricate a microline structure by itself, named Ag-reduced poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) composite directional bending sensor (ACBS). A simple but effective process of forming nanoparticles (NPs) and surface structures is a notable characteristic. High sensitivity to a small stimulus was achieved by forming Ag NPs within PEGDA, particularly concentrating on the surface and applying the microline structure. With the structural characteristics of a line structure, the ACBS achieved anisotropic sensitivity to bulk motion along the arranged line direction. The excellent sensitivity of this polymer sensor was experimentally demonstrated via water droplets, blowing, and breathing. Combining the advantages of a simple synthetic and simple fabrication process along with the fabrication ability of the microsurface structure with the material itself and the conductive Ag/PEGDA integrated layer, this ACBS is outstanding as a soft and flexible polymer composite sensor and has potential application in physical devices such as wearable devices and biosensors.
Keywords: bending sensor; directional sensitivity; polymer composite; silver layer; silver-reduced.