An integrated all-fiber-based sensing system for monitoring humidity physiological signals

Yibo Sun; Xingmei Wang; Rongda Zhang; Zhen Hu; Tianyu Wang; Fan Liu; Guanghui Gao; Lijie Duan

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2025.138385

An integrated all-fiber-based sensing system for monitoring humidity physiological signals

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2025 Jul 8;700(Pt 1):138385. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2025.138385. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Yibo Sun¹, Xingmei Wang², Rongda Zhang², Zhen Hu³, Tianyu Wang², Fan Liu³, Guanghui Gao², Lijie Duan⁴

Affiliations

¹ Polymeric and Soft Materials Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Life Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun 130012, PR China; Advanced Institute of Materials Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun 130012, PR China.
² School of Chemical Engineering, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun 130012, PR China.
³ Polymeric and Soft Materials Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Life Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun 130012, PR China.
⁴ Polymeric and Soft Materials Laboratory, School of Chemistry and Life Science, Changchun University of Technology, Changchun 130012, PR China; Biodiscovery Institute, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK; Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK. Electronic address: duanlijie@ccut.edu.cn.

PMID: 40651155
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2025.138385

Abstract

With the advancement of wearable electronics, flexible sensors have attracted significant attention in health monitoring and personalized medical services. While these sensors exhibit excellent responsiveness for health tracking, they often overlook the importance of skin surface humidity. All-fiber-based sensors exhibit exceptional flexibility, breathability and lightweight nature. Given these advantages, all-fiber-based sensors are predisposed to be applied in skin humidity monitoring. However, their exploration in this field remains rarely reported. Therefore, developing an all-fiber-based sensor for real-time skin humidity monitoring is highly desirable. Herein, a highly stretchable, air permeable, moisture sensitive and antibacterial all-fiber strain and humidity sensor was fabricated by embedding lithium chloride (LiCl) into thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) solutions. Benefiting from the uniform distribution and strong hygroscopicity of LiCl, the prepared nanofiber membrane exhibits rapid response, high sensitivity, and relative humidity sensing (from 30 % to 90 %). Additionally, the nanofiber membrane demonstrates excellent strain sensing performance stability and endures across 600 loading cycles in a large working range covering 0 to 450 %. Moreover, the resulting all-fiber-based sensor can be employed for monitoring human movements and detecting humidity bioelectrical signals. Therefore, the investigation is anticipated to provide novel strategies towards the advancement of next-generation multifunctional wearable electronic devices.

Keywords: All-fiber; Moisture sensitive; Strain and humidity sensor.