1. Highly Sensitive, Wearable, Durable Strain Sensors and Stretchable Conductors Using Graphene/Silicon Rubber Composites
- Author
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Craig Stevenson, Ivan Lee, Rujing Zhang, Jing-Hong Pai, Kalana Ishara, Ge Shi, Zhiheng Zhao, Jun Ma, Hongwei Zhu, Liqun Zhang, Shi, Ge, Zhao, Zhiheng, Pai, Jing-Hong, Lee, Ivan, Zhang, Liqun, Stevenson, Craig, Ishara, Kalana, Zhang, Rujing, Zhu, Hongwei, and Ma, Jun
- Subjects
Materials science ,Fabrication ,polymer composites ,Composite number ,Electronic skin ,02 engineering and technology ,engineering.material ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,law.invention ,Biomaterials ,Coating ,law ,Electrochemistry ,strain sensors ,Composite material ,Electrical conductor ,polymer processing ,Graphene ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Condensed Matter Physics ,0104 chemical sciences ,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials ,Conductor ,Service life ,engineering ,conductors ,0210 nano-technology ,graphene films - Abstract
Highly sensitive, wearable and durable strain sensors are vital to the development of health monitoring systems, smart robots and human machine interfaces. The recent sensor fabrication progress is respectable, but it is limited by complexity, low sensitivity and unideal service life. Herein a facile, cost-effective and scalable method is presented for the development of high-performance strain sensors and stretchable conductors based on a composite film consisting of graphene platelets (GnPs) and silicon rubber. Through calculation by the tunneling theory using experimental data, the composite film has demonstrated ideal linear and reproducible sensitivity to tensile strains, which is contributed by the superior piezoresistivity of GnPs having tunable gauge factors 27.7–164.5. The composite sensors fabricated in different days demonstrate pretty similar performance, enabling applications as a health-monitoring device to detect various human motions from finger bending to pulse. They can be used as electronic skin, a vibration sensor and a human-machine interface controller. Stretchable conductors are made by coating and encapsulating GnPs with polydimethyl siloxane to create another composite; this structure allows the conductor to be readily bent and stretched with sufficient mechanical robustness and cyclability. Refereed/Peer-reviewed
- Published
- 2016