A superelastic ceramic aerogel for flexible pressure sensor in harsh environment

With the rapid development in fields such as aerospace and intelligent firefighting, there are increasing demands for flexible pressure sensors to exhibit enhanced temperature resistance and stability. Here, we present a capacitive flexible ceramic aerogel pressure sensor (FCAPS) that operates stably over a wide temperature range from -196 to 800 degrees C. A dielectric layer of ZrO2-SiO2 nanofiber aerogel (ZSNFA) was constructed using oxide ceramic nanofibers with Si-O-Si cross-linked structures, which enables the sensor to maintain superior stability and high resilience under extreme temperatures. Flexible electrodes with high stability, fabricated using the direct ink writing (DIW) technique based on the Weissenberg effect and composed of interwoven Ag-Pd paste and fibers, enhance the sensor's high conformal adaptability. Experimental results demonstrate that when the temperature is 800 degrees C, the sensor exhibits long-term stability with over 1000 cycles and a sensitivity up to 0.262 kPa- 1. Furthermore, by leveraging deep learning technology, a firefighting pressure tactile glove integrated with a sensor array was developed, enabling precise object recognition, which has significant implications for the advancement of intelligent firefighting.