Seolhee Baek†
a,
Hayeong Jang†a,
So Young Kimc,
Heejeong Jeonga,
Singu Hana,
Yunseok Jang*b,
Do Hwan Kim*c and
Hwa Sung Lee*a
aDepartment of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Hanbat National University, Daejeon 34158, Korea. E-mail: hlee@hanbat.ac.kr
bAdvanced Manufacturing Systems Research Division, Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials KIMM, Daejeon 34103, Korea. E-mail: yjang@kimm.re.kr
cDepartment of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 06978, Korea. E-mail: dohwan@ssu.ac.kr
First published on 14th August 2017
Flexible pressure sensors are a key component of electronic skin (e-skin) for use in future applications ranging from human healthcare monitoring to robotic skins and environmental risk detection. Here, we demonstrated the development of a highly sensitive, simple, and low-cost capacitive pressure sensor, which acted as a flexible capacitive dielectric, based on a microstructured elastomeric template that could be fabricated over a large area. To achieve this goal, the dielectric template was prepared simply by stretching and releasing a flexible Ecoflex film to produce wrinkled surface microstructures with a feature size on the order of tens of micrometers. The effects of the wrinkled surface microstructure on the sensing performance were systematically investigated by comparing the nonwrinkled film, one-side wrinkled film, and double-side wrinkled film. The response and release times of the double-side wrinkled pressure sensor were improved by 42% and 25% in comparison with the values obtained from the unwrinkled case, respectively. These results showed that the introduction of wrinkled surface microstructures to the elastomeric template efficiently enhanced the pressure sensor performance. We also demonstrated that our sensor could be used to detect a variety of changes in the surroundings, such as variations in the angle of a stimulus, object loading/unloading, or an exhaled breath.
The functionalities of e-skin capable of detecting human physical data can be improved through the rational design of sensing materials and device architectures.4,6,9–12 Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most popular elastic material used to integrate sensitive nanomaterials into flexible e-skin applications due to its excellent elasticity and biocompatibility. Microstructured elastomeric films are a key element of e-skin devices, providing better sensitivities and faster response times compared to unstructured thin films.4,10–12 Application of an external stimulus, especially pressure, to microstructured elastomeric features induces elastic deformation that store and release energy reversibly. The reversible material response minimizes problems associated with the viscoelastic behaviors of an elastomer. The compression of unstructured elastomer templates increases the relaxation time, and a lack of deformable surface structures reduces the responsiveness of the material to an external pressure load. Uniformly microstructured elastomeric templates are usually fabricated using patterned mold transfer or photolithography techniques.11,13–15 These fabrication processes control the geometry and shape of the elastomeric template micro-features by forming pyramids, cubes, lines, hemispheres, columns, etc.
These processes are expensive, however, require multiple steps (spin-coating, lithography, and etching), and the large-area integration of microstructures into a template surface tends to display poor reproducibility. Silk-molded structures were recently introduced as a simple method for fabricating large-area patterned PDMS thin films with a uniform microstructure for monitoring human physiological signals.9 The silk-molded structures were applied to a microstructured electrode template, rather than an elastomeric dielectric. A sensor device prepared using patterned carbon nanotube/PDMS films demonstrated an ultrahigh sensitivity for the detection of minute forces, with a detection limit as low as 0.6 Pa. This approach provided a facile method for fabricating conformal sensing structures over large areas for the collection of physical data, such as the pulse, changes in skin contact, and body motions.
Here, we describe a simple and low-cost process for fabricating a large-area microstructured elastomeric template that acted as a flexible capacitive pressure sensor. To achieve this goal, a soft Ecoflex dielectric film was pre-strained in a first step. The Ecoflex surface was then treated with ultraviolet-ozone (UVO) exposure to form a stiff silicate layer on the surface.16,17 The strain on the Ecoflex film was then relaxed, resulting in the formation of a microstructured wrinkled surface with features on the order of tens of micrometers. The Ecoflex template with wrinkled microstructure was sensitively deformed to permit the reversible storage and release of energy generated under an external pressure. Finally, a Au-coated silicon wafer (hard) and a PDMS (soft) later were positioned on the top and bottom of the wrinkled Ecoflex template to form electrodes. The effect of the wrinkled structure on the flexible pressure sensor was explored by systematically comparing three films: nonwrinkled film, one-side wrinkled film, and double-side wrinkled film. The constructed flexible pressure sensor was characterized by its mechanical capacitance response as a function of the applied loading value. The wrinkled pressure sensor displayed a high sensitivity, a mechanically rapid responsivity (pressing and releasing), good durability, and performance repeatability. In addition, the wrinkled pressure sensor effectively detected the degree to which a book was opened, the presence of an object, and the pressure differential of an exhaled breath the fabrication processes of pressure sensor were easy and compatible with conventional microfabrication technology, which permits scalable production at a low unit cost.
Contact angle (°) | Surface energy (mJ m−2) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Water | Diiodomethane | Polar term | Dispersion term | Total | |
Ecoflex | 88 ± 1 | 48 ± 2 | 2.1 | 33.3 | 35.4 |
UVO-treated Ecoflex | 73 ± 2 | 46 ± 1 | 8.5 | 30.8 | 39.3 |
The typical features of the wrinkled Ecoflex template situated between two electrodes are shown with clear optical contrast in the OM image presented in Fig. 2a. The wrinkled structures were uniformly distributed over a large area in the perpendicular direction of the strain, as explained in Fig. 1. The pressure sensing capability of the wrinkled pressure sensor was examined by applying a normal force to the unit sensing cell using a custom-built sensor probe station. Fig. 2b and c show the capacitance change ratio (ΔC/C0) as a function of the normal pressure applied to the wrinkled structure of the elastomeric templates using silicon wafer (hard) and PDMS (soft) electrodes, respectively. The intrinsic response characteristics of the wrinkled Ecoflex templates to the external pressure were confirmed using the hard electrode, as shown in Fig. 2b. The relative ΔC/C0 ratio obtained from the nonwrinkled, one-side wrinkled, and double-side wrinkled pressure sensors in Fig. 2b revealed a quasi-bilinear dependence on the pressure at each pressure regime (low pressure regime: <1.0 kPa and high pressure regime: >8.0 kPa) due to the incompressibility of the Ecoflex dielectric.20,21 Pressure sensitivity, S, defined as the slope of the traces, is commonly used to evaluate the performance of a pressure sensor.20,23,24 At pressures below 1.0 kPa or above 8.0 kPa, the sensitivities of the nonwrinkled sensor were 4.8 × 10−6 and 5.2 × 10−6 kPa−1, respectively. The pressure sensitivities increased with the addition of the wrinkled structures, to 3.4 × 10−5 and 0.013 kPa−1 for the one-side wrinkled and double-side wrinkled cases at low pressures, respectively. The results obtained from the wrinkled pressure sensors, especially the double-side wrinkled film, in the high-pressure regime were higher than those obtained from the nonwrinkled pressure sensor.
The pressure sensing capabilities of our sensors were assessed using flexible PDMS electrodes. As shown in Fig. 2c, the pressure sensitivities increased in the order of nonwrinkled, one-side wrinkled, and double-side wrinkled Ecoflex pressure sensors. The capacitance change followed the same trend. The pressure sensitivities of our devices are summarized in Table 2. Note that the degree of the response or sensitivity to the external pressure improved significantly upon introduction of the wrinkled structure into the elastomeric template. For a given elastomeric template structure, some pressure sensitivity measurements were higher using the PDMS electrodes, whereas others were higher using the wafer electrodes. The differences between the two values did not follow a specific trend based on the template structure. These results were attributed not to the template structure, but to the absorption of some pressure by the PDMS electrode.
Wafer (hard) electrode | PDMS (soft) electrode | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Low pressure (<1 kPa) | High pressure (>8 kPa) | Low pressure (<1 kPa) | High pressure (>8 kPa) | |
G-factor (kPa−1, nonwrinkled) | 4.8 × 10−6 | 5.2 × 10−6 | 7.6 × 10−5 | 8.0 × 10−7 |
G-factor (kPa−1, one-side) | 3.4 × 10−5 | 5.8 × 10−6 | 8.8 × 10−4 | 1.3 × 10−6 |
G-factor (kPa−1, double-side) | 0.013 | 1.1 × 10−5 | 0.0012 | 4.2 × 10−6 |
The operating reliabilities and response times of the wrinkled pressure sensors were assessed for the nonwrinkled, one-side wrinkled, or double-side wrinkled sensors. The device durability was obtained by measuring the capacitance of the device over 40 repeated load/unload cycles with an applied pressure of 5 kPa (Fig. 3a–c). The pressure sensitivity of the elastomeric Ecoflex dielectric increased with increasing wrinkled surface structure, providing capacitance change ratios (ΔC/C0) of 0.21, 0.44, and 0.97 for the nonwrinkled, one-side wrinkled, and double-side wrinkled sensors, respectively. These results could be explained in terms of the easy transformation of the wrinkled microstructures compared to the resistance to transformation by the flat structure of the Ecoflex dielectric surface. The typical response times for the nonwrinkled, one-side wrinkled, and double-side wrinkled sensors were 1.0 s, 907 ms, and 578 ms, respectively (Fig. 3d–f). The typical release times were 1.04 s, 821 ms, and 782 ms, respectively (Fig. 3d–f). These results revealed that the wrinkled microstructures of the elastomeric template enhanced the response speed to the external stimulus because the wrinkled micro-features on the Ecoflex template deformed to a greater extent, thereby storing and releasing energy reversibly, which minimized problems due to the viscoelastic behavior of the elastomeric Ecoflex.
The step-by-step repeatable performances of the double-wrinkled pressure sensors over several cycles are shown in Fig. 4a. Excellent operational stability and reversibility were demonstrated over a 50 cycle run with a 0–8 kPa force step. The force step and the cycle-to-cycle similarities are highlighted in Fig. 4b and c. As shown in the figures, the continuous application of a pressure to the capacitive sensor decreased the thickness of the Ecoflex template between the two PDMS electrodes, which increased the capacitance. Despite the enhanced sensitivity obtained from the lower-modulus Ecoflex template, however, the value of the ΔC/C0 sensitivity gradually decreased during the step-by-step pressure increase. These results may indicate deformation saturation. Note that an increase in the sensitivity to each pressure step in our system was also evident in the sensors prepared with the soft PDMS electrodes. These results revealed that the introduction of a wrinkled surface microstructure to the elastomeric template clearly enhanced the performances of the pressure sensors. Recently, several studies have examined the increase in the operational range or linearity of the relationship between the sensor output and the applied pressure.6–10,22–31 From this standpoint, our sensor provided excellent sensitivity and reversibility, even though these performances have not yet surpassed the current best value.
We examined the wrinkled pressure sensor for use as a folding-type sensing device fixed to the inner binding of a book (Fig. 5a). The sensitivities of the sensors to the book cover bending angle were investigated by measuring the capacitance values at different angles θ, by closing the book at 40°, 80°, and 120° angles, in a step-wise manner (each angle was held over several seconds), followed by opening the book gradually at 120°, 80°, and 40° angles. The change in the relative capacitance increased upon closing the book from 40° to 120° due to the compression induced by the tensile strain; whereas the change in the relative capacitance decreased upon opening the book from 120° to 40° due to the release of the compressive strain, as shown in the inset images of Fig. 5a. The folding-type sensors responded rapidly at each angle change, and the resistance remained constant for a given angle. The folding-type sensor using a wrinkled pressure sensor permits measurements of the changes in robotic joint angles, suggesting that the sensors could replace encoders. These results indicate that our sensors are attractive for applications in robotics and in detecting the open/closed state of a door in a multifunctional intelligent room system. The wrinkled pressure sensor could be used to detect the dynamic loading and unloading pressures of a small toy 150 mg in weight (Fig. 5b). We also observed a change in the capacitance during an exhale, as shown in Fig. 5c. High signal-to-noise ratios were obtained from all three types of pressure measurement, further demonstrating the highly sensitive capabilities of our wrinkled pressure sensors. These results suggest that our pressure sensor based on a wrinkled elastomeric template, fabricated using a simple and cheap process, constitutes an effective device structure for enabling e-skins capable of detecting applied pressures (or contact forces).
Footnote |
† S. Baek and H. Jang contributed equally to this work. |
This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2017 |