A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Electrospun Hollow Nanofiber Surfaces as Dielectric Mediums for Highly Sensitive Flexible Capacitive Pressure Sensors in Low-Pressure Regimes
Authors: Siddique, Shaharyar; Barua, Amit; Gogoi, Rituporn; Sharma, Vipul
Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Publication year: 2025
Journal: IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics
Journal name in source: IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics
Volume: 4
Issue: 6
First page : 226
Last page: 233
eISSN: 2768-167X
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/JFLEX.2025.3577111
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1109/jflex.2025.3577111
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/499355085
Flexible capacitive pressure sensors have gained significant attention in flexible electronics, offering extensive material and design options for various active sensing needs. Despite significant advances, achieving high sensitivity at very low pressures (<5 kPa) remains a challenge. Tailoring the dielectric layer is one of the most effective strategies to address this issue, with recent work showing that incorporating nanostructures can substantially improve sensor performance. Here, we employ coaxially electrospun hollow nanofibers characterized by a high surface-to-volume ratio, enhanced air gaps, and densely packed microstructure-nanostructure to fabricate a highly sensitive capacitive pressure sensor. Systematic characterization across varying pressure ranges revealed that the sensor achieved superior sensitivity in the low-pressure range (0.2–2 kPa), outperforming sensors fabricated using traditional electrospun nanofiber dielectric layers. In particular, the sensor exhibited a maximum sensitivity of 1.05 kPa−1 at a pressure of 1 kPa. This performance gain is attributed to the hollow air core of the fibers, which improves dielectric properties by increasing surface area, roughness, deformability, and charge formation. However, the sensor’s sensitivity reduces at higher pressures, ultimately falling below that of conventional single-shell fiber-based sensors due to the reduced influence of the air gaps within the hollow fibers. These findings highlight the potential of hollow fiber architectures for low-pressure-sensing applications while also highlighting opportunities for further optimization.
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Funding information in the publication:
This work was supported in part by the KONE Foundation under Grant 202012035, in part by the Research Council of Finland under Grant 331368, and in part by the Project DURATRANS 2024–2027 through the Framework of M-ERA.Net under Grant 364364.