Design of Textile-Based Flexible, Eco-Friendly Pressure Sensors Embedded With Ag/Cu Nanoparticles Using Plasma Sputtering Technology

A systematic study for the preparation of textile-based flexible and ecofriendly, highly sensitive pressure sensors has been carried out using Plasma technology. Compared to chemical processes, plasma technology is less hazardous for the environment as no water and chemicals are used in the process. A 5×5 cm banana fabric is taken as the base material for the sensor. It is thoroughly washed with distilled water to remove dirt before embedding the nanoparticles. Two layers of nanoparticles are deposited on the fabric using the DC magnetron sputtering technique. Initially, Ag is deposited under the experimental conditions of 1 ×10–<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup>mbar base pressure, 4 ×10–<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup>mbar working pressure and 23 W power for a time duration of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 & 30 minutes. Characterizations of the surface modification of the Ag-coated fabric are analyzed by XRD, SEM, FTIR, electrical conductivity, and pressure sensitivity analysis test for sensors, Optimized at 20, 25, and 30-minute sputtering conditions. A second level of Cu coating is done on top of it following the similar DC magnetron sputtering technique under the experimental conditions of 8 ×10–<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup>mbar base pressure, 8 ×10–<sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup>mbar working pressure and 60 W power for a time duration of 20 minutes (optimized result). Before the second level of coating on Ag-coated samples, the coating of copper was separately done on new banana fabric samples for a time duration of 15, 20 & 25 minutes for optimization and as a result, 20 min sputtering of Cu is optimized result for further deposition Cu on optimized Ag coated banana fabrics. The purpose of the two-layer coating is to observe the tribological behavior under the application of an external force so that it can be used as a stress/strain sensor or pressure sensor in the wearable healthcare system. Apart from this, it can also be used as a temperature sensor to monitor body temperature and electrophysiological sensing to monitor heart rate, finger bending, etc. Several tests of the fabricated sample are to be performed to check for the confirmation & usability of physical sensors viz., pressure, temperature sensor, etc in the healthcare system. It is observed that Ag/Cu nanoparticle-embedded banana fabric is conducting in nature.