1 research outputs found
Highly Sensitive and Very Stretchable Strain Sensor Based on a Rubbery Semiconductor
There is a growing interest in developing
stretchable strain sensors to quantify the large mechanical deformation
and strain associated with the activities for a wide range of species,
such as humans, machines, and robots. Here, we report a novel stretchable
strain sensor entirely in a rubber format by using a solution-processed
rubbery semiconductor as the sensing material to achieve high sensitivity,
large mechanical strain tolerance, and hysteresis-less and highly
linear responses. Specifically, the rubbery semiconductor exploits π–π
stacked polyÂ(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) nanofibrils (P3HT-NFs) percolated
in silicone elastomer of polyÂ(dimethylsiloxane) to yield semiconducting
nanocomposite with a large mechanical stretchability, although P3HT
is a well-known nonstretchable semiconductor. The fabricated strain
sensors exhibit reliable and reversible sensing capability, high gauge
factor (gauge factor = 32), high linearity (<i>R</i><sup>2</sup> > 0.996), and low hysteresis (degree of hysteresis <12%)
responses at the mechanical strain of up to 100%. A strain sensor
in this format can be scalably manufactured and implemented as wearable
smart gloves. Systematic investigations in the materials design and
synthesis, sensor fabrication and characterization, and mechanical
analysis reveal the key fundamental and application aspects of the
highly sensitive and very stretchable strain sensors entirely from
rubbers