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Zhang et al. Soft Sci. 2025, 5, 17 Soft Science
DOI: 10.20517/ss.2024.68

Research Article Open Access

Flexible and breathable MXene-modified paper-

based piezoresistive pressure sensors integrated
into airbag pillow for sleep monitoring

1
1,*
2,*
1
1
Yanxi Zhang , Baojia Zhang , Yu Lv , Peng Wang , Teng Liu , Chuizhou Meng 1,*
1
State Key Laboratory for Reliability and Intelligence of Electrical Equipment, Engineering Research Center of Ministry of
Education for Intelligent Rehabilitation Device and Detection Technology, Hebei Key Laboratory of Smart Sensing and Human-
Robot Interaction, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, Tianjin 300401, China.
2
School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Jinan, Jinan 250022, Shandong, China.
* Correspondence to: Dr. Peng Wang, School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Jinan, 336 Nanxinzhuang West Road,
Shizhong District, Jinan 250022, Shandong, China. E-mail: wangp0405@163.com; Prof. Teng Liu, Prof. Chuizhou Meng, State
Key Laboratory for Reliability and Intelligence of Electrical Equipment, Engineering Research Center of Ministry of Education for
Intelligent Rehabilitation Device and Detection Technology, Hebei Key Laboratory of Smart Sensing and Human-Robot
Interaction, School of Mechanical Engineering, Hebei University of Technology, 5340 Xiping Road, Beichen District, Tianjin
300401, China. E-mail: wuqiu-liu@163.com; 2018108@hebut.edu.cn
How to cite this article: Zhang, Y.; Zhang, B.; Lv, Y.; Wang, P.; Liu, T.; Meng, C. Flexible and breathable MXene-modified paper-
based piezoresistive pressure sensors integrated into airbag pillow for sleep monitoring. Soft Sci. 2025, 5, 17. https://dx.doi.org/
10.20517/ss.2024.68
Received: 30 Nov 2024 First Decision: 30 Dec 2024 Revised: 13 Feb 2025 Accepted: 19 Feb 2025 Published: 14 Mar 2025

Academic Editors: YongAn Huang, Toan Dinh Copy Editor: Pei-Yun Wang Production Editor: Pei-Yun Wang

Abstract
Sleeping head monitoring through an intelligent pillow is crucial in warning of disastrous diseases such as
suffocation during snoring. However, flexible sensors are still inferior due to limited sensing performance and
impermeable wearing discomfort. Herein we develop a flexible pressure sensor by constructing both decorated
MXene piezoresistive network and printed interdigital silver electrodes on a dust-free paper platform. The intrinsic
paper fabric framework provides good permeability for comfortable skin-attaching, and the microstructured
-1
MXene on paper offers good sensing performance with high sensitivity (16.7 kPa < 20 kPa), a wide detection
range (~100 kPa), and fast response time (~50 ms). As a proof of concept, the single sensor unit integrated into an
airbag pillow for different types of snoring monitoring and five sensor arrays for sleeping head posture recognition
by machine learning are both demonstrated. The proposed paper-based sensor, along with the intelligent airbag
pillow, provides a promising approach for sleep monitoring in a comfortable unrestricted way.

Keywords: Flexible and breathable sensor, piezoresistive pressure sensor, MXene, paper, snoring monitoring, sleep
monitoring

© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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