Non-contact, fibrous cellulose acetate/aluminum flexible electronic-sensor for humidity detecting

The development of non-contact flexible electronic-sensor with high sensitivity and stable connection is urgently needed for the advanced human-machine interactions. Here, with the aid of theoretical simulation, a novel cellulose acetate/aluminum (CA/Al) flexible humidity sensor was designed. Aligned CA fibrous mat with groove structures exhibited high sensitivity and programmable deformation ability to humidity. The conductive Al layer possessed ordered wrinkle geometry and perfectly balanced the high deformability and stable electronic connectivity. Based on these features, the non-contact CA/Al sensor could sensitively capture the sweat changing of a human finger, and exhibit stable on-off signals under continuous deformations, which is highly promising in wearable human-machine interaction devices. This work paves the way for designing high-performance non-contact flexible electronic sensors under the direction of artificial intelligence in the future.