In order to improve the performance of fiber sensors and fully tap the potential of optical fiber sensors, various optical materials have been selectively coated on optical fiber sensors under the background of the rapid development of various optical materials. On the basis of retaining the original characteristics of the optical fiber sensors, the coated sensors are endowed with new characteristics, such as high sensitivity, strong structure, and specific recognition. Many materials with a large thermal optical coefficient and thermal expansion coefficients are applied to optical fibers, and the temperature sensitivities are improved several times after coating. At the same time, fiber sensors have more intelligent sensing capabilities when coated with specific recognition materials. The same/different kinds of materials combined with the same/different fiber structures can produce different measurements, which is interesting. This paper summarizes and compares the fiber sensors treated by different coating materials.

A novel high-sensitive fiber-optic Fabry-Perot sensor with parallel polymer-air cavities based on Vernier effect was proposed and demonstrated for simultaneous measurement of pressure and temperature. The sensor is composed of two parallel Fabry-Perot cavities both are fabricated by splicing a section of silica tube to the single-mode fiber. One cavity is filled with polydimethylsiloxane, and the other cavity is filled with a thin layer of ultraviolet glue at the end-face of silica tube, ensuring that the free spectrum ranges of two Fabry-Perot cavities are similar and generate the Vernier effect. The Fabry-Perot interferometer filled with polydimethylsiloxane was found to be sensitive to pressure as well as temperature, whereas the Fabry-Perot interferometer filled with a thin layer of ultraviolet glue was sensitive to pressure only. Owing to the different features of two Fabry-Perot interferometers, the sensor achieved simultaneous measurement of pressure and temperature. Combined with Vernier effect, the sensor provided a pressure sensitivity of −36.93 nm/MPa and a temperature sensitivity of 10.29 nm/°C, respectively. The sensor has exhibited potential applications in fields of medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, and biological sensing.

A designed nano-KTN/Ag core/shell structure endows nano-KTN@Ag/PVDF composite films with excellent properties of remarkably enhanced dielectric permittivity, low loss tangent and flexibility. It has been found that the incorporation of KTN@Ag nanoparticles can increase the average crystallite size of the β phase in a polymer matrix, which elevates the polarization level of the polymer matrix and increases the dielectric permittivity of the nanocomposites. 25 vol% composites own a remarkably enhanced dielectric permittivity (ε_r = 230) at 100 Hz, which is due to MWS polarization at the internal interface between nano-KTN@Ag and the PVDF matrix, the increased induced polarization of the nanoparticles and the “boundary layer capacitor effect”. The low loss tangent is achieved because of an enhanced polarization reverse speed by the Ag shells and a blockage of charge transfer by PVDF chains. The percolation threshold of the composite films (f_c = 0.317) was predicted by the percolation theory, and the theoretical results were in good agreement with the experimental data.

A compact fiber-optic temperature sensor with hybrid interferometers enhanced by the harmonic Vernier effect was proposed, which realized 36.9 times sensitization of the sensing Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). The hybrid interferometers configuration of the sensor consists of a FPI and a Michelson interferometer. The proposed sensor is fabricated by splicing the hole-assisted suspended-core fiber (HASCF) to the multi-mode fiber fused with the single-mode fiber, and filling polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) into the air hole of HASCF. The high thermal expansion coefficient of PDMS improves the temperature sensitivity of the FPI. The harmonic Vernier effect eliminates the limitation of the free spectral range on the magnification factor by detecting the intersection response of internal envelopes, and realizes the secondary sensitization of the traditional Vernier effect. Combing the characteristics of HASCF, PDMS, and first-order harmonic Vernier effect, the sensor exhibits a high detection sensitivity of −19.22 nm/°C. The proposed sensor provides not only a design scheme for compact fiber-optic sensors, but also a new strategy to enhance the optical Vernier effect.

A novel high sensitivity temperature sensor based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) coated the Multi-Thin-Multi mode Fiber was presented. The reliable material PDMS with higher negative thermal optical coefficient and thermal expansion coefficient was selected to improve the sensitivity of the optical fiber's temperature sensing. A section of thin-mode fiber was connected in the middle of two multi-mode fibers, so as to form the Multi-Thin-Multi mode Fiber structure, which can make the light in the cladding better interact with the external PDMS. For the two dips of the interference spectra, the temperature sensitivities of the original fiber sensor were 47.14 pm/ °C and 0.093 dB/ °C. After the sensing part of the fiber was coated, its temperature sensitivities were become as 75.04 pm/°C and 0.231 dB/ °C, which 1.6 and 2.5 times improved, respectively. In the temperature stability experiment, a standard deviation of the wavelength variation was established to demonstrate the good stability of the sensor.

A high recoverable energy storage density polymer composite film has been designed in which the ferroelectric-paraelectric 0.85 (K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃)-0.15SrTiO₃ (abbreviated as KNN-ST) solid solution particles were introduced into polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer as functional fillers. The effects of the polarization properties of K_0.5Na_0.5NbO₃ (KNN) and KNN-ST particles on the energy storage performances of KNN-ST/PVDF film were systemically studied. And the introduction of SrTiO₃ (ST) was effective in reducing the remnant polarization of the particles, improving the dielectric properties and recoverable energy storage density of the KNN-ST/PVDF films. Compared to KNN/PVDF films, the dielectric permittivity of composite films was enhanced from 17 to 38 upon the introduction of ST. A recoverable energy storage density of 1.34 J/cm³ was achieved, which is 202.60% larger than that of the KNN/PVDF composite films. The interface between the particles and the polymer matrix was considered to the enhanced dielectric permittivity of the films. And the reduced remnant polarization of the composites was regarded as the improving high recoverable energy storage density. The results demonstrated that combing ferroelectric- paraelectric particles with polymers might be a key method for composites with excellent dielectric permittivity, high energy storage density, and energy efficiency.