Preparation of wearable strain sensor based on PVA/MWCNTs hydrogel composite

In this paper, the dispersion of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in Polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) was achieved by using dimethyl sulfoxide/N,N-dimethylformamide mixed solvent combined with ultrasonic and centrifugation then PVA/MWCNTs hydrogels composite were prepared. The effects of PVA mass fraction, species and mass fraction of MWCNTs on the structure and properties of the hydrogels composite were studied. Based on the mechanical properties, rheological properties, water content and swelling properties, the optimum formulation of PVA/MWCNTs hydrogel composite was obtained, that is the content of hydroxylated MWCNTs was 0.44 wt% within 10 wt% PVA. The strain sensor based on the hydrogel composite has good stability and repeatability. It is sensitive to human motion response and has the ability to distinguish different joint movements.