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Near‐Field Electrospinning Enabled Highly Sensitive and Anisotropic Strain Sensors
Author(s) -
Huang Yan,
You Xiangyu,
Fan Xiangyu,
Wong Ching Ping,
Guo Ping,
Zhao Ni
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
advanced materials technologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.184
H-Index - 42
ISSN - 2365-709X
DOI - 10.1002/admt.202000550
Subject(s) - electrospinning , fabrication , materials science , strain gauge , gauge factor , electrical conductor , nanowire , electrode , nanotechnology , anisotropy , strain (injury) , optoelectronics , perpendicular , scalability , composite material , computer science , optics , medicine , physics , mathematics , polymer , chemistry , alternative medicine , geometry , pathology , database
The rapid advances in manufacturing technologies have provided great opportunities for scalable fabrication of novel sensing structures and devices. Here, the application of near‐field electrospinning to the fabrication of flexible strain sensors is explored. Through theoretical modeling, it is first verified that a strong anisotropic response of a strain sensor can be obtained through introducing a grid‐shaped design to its sensing layer. Following this guideline, near‐field electrospinning is applied to fabricate polyurethane grids with well‐controlled period and thickness and the grid is further decorated with conductive silver nanowires. Through tuning the structure of the polyurethane grid and the density of the silver nanowires, a high gauge factor (GF = 338.47) under high strain (200%) is achieved, representing the best sensing and stretching property combination reported for flexible strain sensors. In good agreement with the theoretical model, the strain sensors are only sensitive to the strain along the electrode direction and are insensitive to perpendicular direction strains. Based on this characteristic response, the excellent capability of the strain sensors in distinguishing hand movement and monitoring physiological signals is demonstrated, suggesting the great application potential of the sensors in robotic vision and prosthesis.