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Rational Design of Ultrasensitive Pressure Sensors by Tailoring Microscopic Features
Author(s) -
Peng Shuhua,
Blanloeuil Philippe,
Wu Shuying,
Wang Chun H.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials interfaces
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.671
H-Index - 65
ISSN - 2196-7350
DOI - 10.1002/admi.201800403
Subject(s) - materials science , pressure sensor , polydimethylsiloxane , piezoresistive effect , fabrication , resistive touchscreen , nanotechnology , soft robotics , microstructure , soft lithography , 3d printing , electrical resistance and conductance , composite material , mechanical engineering , computer science , robot , artificial intelligence , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering , computer vision
Wearable sensors are increasingly used in a wide range of applications such as tactile sensors and artificial skins for soft robotics, monitoring human motions for wellbeing and sports performance, and pressure control of compression garments for wound healing. In this work, an ultrasensitive resistive pressure sensor based on conductive polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) thin films with different microstructures is presented. These microscopic features include micropyramids, micro‐semispheres, and micro‐semicylinders which are created by soft lithography replication of 3D printing templates. To enable piezoresistivity, a thin layer of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) is spray‐coated on the textured PDMS film. The resistance changes of the three microstructure designs under compression loading show that the micro‐semicylinder‐based sensor has the highest sensitivity of −3.6 kPa −1 . Finite element modeling reveals that among the three designs, the micro‐semicylinders show the largest change in contact area under the same pressure, consistent with the experimental results that the largest resistance change under the same pressure. This sensor is capable of detecting pressure as low as 1.0 Pa. This 3D printing technology is a promising fabrication technique to design microstructured piezoresistive layers, paving the way to tailor sensor performance by engineering their microstructures and to produce ultrasensitive pressure sensors at low cost.