1. Highly Sensitive Porous PDMS-Based Capacitive Pressure Sensors Fabricated on Fabric Platform for Wearable Applications
- Author
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Massood Z. Atashbar, Anthony J. Hanson, Dinesh Maddipatla, V. Palaniappan, S. Hajian, Bradley J. Bazuin, S. Masihi, Binu B. Narakathu, M. Panahi, and A. K. Bose
- Subjects
Materials science ,Capacitive sensing ,Bioengineering ,02 engineering and technology ,Dielectric ,Elastomer ,Electric Capacitance ,01 natural sciences ,Capacitance ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,Wearable Electronic Devices ,Pressure ,Dimethylpolysiloxanes ,Composite material ,Porosity ,Instrumentation ,Curing (chemistry) ,Fluid Flow and Transfer Processes ,Polydimethylsiloxane ,Process Chemistry and Technology ,010401 analytical chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Pressure sensor ,0104 chemical sciences ,chemistry ,0210 nano-technology - Abstract
A novel porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based capacitive pressure sensor was fabricated by optimizing the dielectric layer porosity for wide-range pressure sensing applications in the sports field. The pressure sensor consists of a porous PDMS dielectric layer and two fabric-based conductive electrodes. The porous PDMS dielectric layer was fabricated by introducing nitric acid (HNO3) into a mixture of PDMS and sodium hydrogen bicarbonate (NaHCO3) to facilitate the liberation of carbon dioxide (CO2) gas, which induces the creation of porous microstructures within the PDMS dielectric layer. Nine different pressure sensors (PS1, PS2,..., PS9) were fabricated in which the porosity (pore size, thickness) and dielectric constant of the PDMS dielectric layers were varied by changing the curing temperature, the mixing proportions of the HNO3/PDMS concentration, and the PDMS mixing ratio. The response of the fabricated pressure sensors was investigated for the applied pressures ranging from 0 to 1000 kPa. A relative capacitance change of ∼100, ∼323, and ∼485% was obtained by increasing the curing temperature from 110 to 140 to 170 °C, respectively. Similarly, a relative capacitance change of ∼170, ∼282, and ∼323% was obtained by increasing the HNO3/PDMS concentration from 10 to 15 to 20%, respectively. In addition, a relative capacitance change of ∼94, ∼323, and ∼460% was obtained by increasing the PDMS elastomer base/curing agent ratio from 5:1 to 10:1 to 15:1, respectively. PS9 exhibited the highest sensitivity over a wide pressure sensing range (low-pressure ranges (
- Published
- 2021