Carbon fiber/polymer-based composites for wearable sensors: a review

The importance of wearable sensors has constantly increased in the current era of smart wearable sensors. Among the carbon-based allotropes used to form the sensors, carbon fibers (CFs) have been very popular due to their low weight, excellent electrical, mechanical and thermal characteristics. The paper presents some of the significant work done on using carbon fibers to form composites-based wearable sensors. These composites were developed by mixing carbon fibers and various polymers at optimized ratios via certain fabrication techniques, including printing, layer-by-layer and self-assembling techniques. A classification of the highlighted research has been done based on three categories. The first two types include the polymer types formed using silicone. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and silicone rubber are the major categories used to form composites with carbon fibers. This is due to their homogenous mixing, hydrophobicity and biocompatibility. The third category consists of other types of polymers used to form these hybrid prototypes. Finally, some of the challenges existing with the current carbon fiber/polymer-based composites have been mentioned and their possible remedies.

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