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Flexible strain sensors have become a key component of intelligent wearable electronics. However, the fabrication of strain sensors with wide workable strain ranges and high sensitivity remains a great challenge. Additionally, the rapid development of polymer composites based strain sensors has produced a large amount of e-waste. Therefore, the development of strain sensors with wide strain sensing ranges and high sensitivity based on degradable materials is necessary. In this work, a silicone blocked polyurethane (Si-BPU) with high stretchability and degradability was synthesized and composited with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to fabricate fibrous strain sensors. The synthesized 0.5% Si-BPU exhibited good biodegradability with a weight loss of 16.47% in 42 days. The Si-BPU/12CNTs fiber based strain sensor achieved a sensing range of 0%–353.3% strain, gauge factor (GF) of 206.3 at 250% strain and of 4,513.2 at 353.3% strain, and reliable stability under 10,000 repeated stretching–releasing cycles. Moreover, the Si-BPU/12CNTs strain sensor showed rapid response time (< 163 ms) and was capable of monitoring various human body movements (elbow bending, finger bending, breath, and swallow). In consequence, this work provides a new and effective strategy for the development of sustainable wearable electronic devices.
The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51703108 and 52003130), the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No. 2019M652318), and Taishan Scholar Foundation of Shandong, China (No. tsqn201909100) for financial support.