Preparation and sensing performances of flexible temperature sensor prepared from melt-blown nonwoven materials

Objective Most of high sensitivity temperature sensors are prepared from membranes, metals and other substrate materials, and flexible textile materials with good processing performance and low cost are increasingly used much for making flexible sensors, such as wearable electronics for e-skin and health monitoring and flexible temperature sensors which have advantages in simple structure, wide range of applications and low preparation cost. This research explores the preparation and sensing performance of flexible textile temperature sensors prepared from melt-blown nowoven textiles. Method PEDOT;PSS/CNTs/PBTNW flexible temperature sensors were prepared by co-loading poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly( styrene sulfonic acid) (PEDOT;PSS) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with different concentration ratios on the surface of PBT melt-blown nonwoven (PBTNW) by a simple ultrasonic process. The method is simple, and the temperature sensor can monitor the human body as well as the environment temperature, which expands the application field of textile materials. Results SEM evaluation showed that the interstices of PBTNW loaded with PEDOT:PSS polymer were filled with a small number of one-dimensional CNTs, forming a one-dimensional and two-dimensional structure, which in turn formed a three-dimensional networls structure easy for electrical conductivity and temperature sensing. The PEDOT;PSS and the CNTs formed a complete conductive network with the PBTNW as the backbone. The presence of the polymer PEDOT;PSS mitigated the agglomeration of CNTs better than loading CNTs alone. The temperature sensing test results showed that the prepared temperature sensor achieved a sensitivity of up to -0. 71%/°C in the range of 25-80 °C , fast response time (18 s) , good linearity (R = 0. 99) , hysteresis as low as 4. 98% , good reusability as well as a long term stability, and a sensing accuracy of 0. 1 °C in the temperature range of 37-38 °C . The thermal stability and mechanical properties of PBTNW and PEDOT;PSS/CNTs/PBTNW with different loading ratios were analyzed. After loading PEDOT;PSS and different ratios of PEDOT;PSS and CNTs on the surface of PBTNW , the thermal stability and mechanical properties of the prepared flexible temperature sensors were found to be the best when the ratio of PEDOT:PSS to CNTs was 1 :0. 6. Conclusion Fast response time and high sensitivity gives flexible temperature sensors not only in the environmental temperature measurement of the possibility, but also expand its possibility in the field of human body temperature monitoring. It is indicated that textile materials as a lower cost and simple processing methods of flexible materials have the prospect for applications in the field of flexible sensors. The reliability of the prepared temperature sensors was proved experimentally. However, it is difficult to have high strength due to the characteristics of nonwoven materials themselves, which limits the long-term use of nonwoven temperature sensors. © 2024 China Textile Engineering Society. All rights reserved.