{Reference Type}: Journal Article {Title}: Significant strain-rate dependence of sensing behavior in TiO2@carbon fibre/PDMS composites for flexible strain sensors {Author}: ZHANG, Fan; HU, Hailong; HU, Simin; Jianling, YUE {Journal}: Journal of Advanced Ceramics {ISBN/ISSN}: 2226-4108 {Year}: 2021 {Volume}: 10 {Issue}: 6 {Pages}: 1350-1359 {DOI}: 10.1007/s40145-021-0509-7 {Keywords}: composites {Keywords}: sensitivity {Keywords}: dependence of strain rate {Keywords}: flexible strain sensors {Abstract}: Carbon fibre (CF) embedded into elastomeric media has been attracting incredible interest as flexible strain sensors in the application of skin electronics owing to their high sensitivity in a very small strain gauge. To further improve the sensitivity of CF/PDMS composite strain sensor, the relatively low temperature prepared TiO2 nanowire via hydrothermal route was employed herein to functionalize CF. The results showed a significant increase in the sensitivity of the TiO2@CF/PDMS composite strain sensors which was reflected by the calculated gauge factor. As the prepared TiO2 nanowire vertically embraced the surroundings of the CF, the introduced TiO2 nanowire contributed to a highly porous structure which played a predominant role in improving the sensitivity of strain sensors. Moreover, the significant strain rate dependent behavior of TiO2@CF/PDMS strain sensor was revealed when performing monotonic tests at varied strain rate. Therefore, introducing TiO2 nanowire on CF offers a new technique for fabricating flexible strain sensors with improved sensitivity for the application of flexible electronics. {URL}: https://www.sciopen.com/article/10.1007/s40145-021-0509-7 {Language}: en