Waterproof and Breathable Graphene-Based Electronic Fabric for Wearable Sensors

Electronic skin (E-skin) is widely used in bionic prosthesis, soft robotics, and wearable electronic devices. Waterproof and breathable membranes that provide a high level of protection and comfort are promising core materials for meeting the pressing demand for E-skin. However, creating such materials exhibiting waterproofness, breathability, and ease of fabrication has proven to be a great challenge. In this paper, waterproof, breathable Modal-based knitted fabric E-skin is proposed by using a simple, low-cost three-step process including the graphene oxide (GO) loading, GO-reducing, and polydimethylsiloxane loading. The prepared E-skin is insensitive to common liquids in daily life including water, tea, milk, and coffee, showing superior waterproof capability. The breathability is also tested with a water vapor transmission rate of ≈13.6 mg cm⁻² h⁻¹. Besides, this E-skin can achieve reliable human motion monitoring. The authors believe this E-skin can provide a reliable principle for further design and development of waterproof and breathable electronic skin.