Issue 15, 2020

Tailoring sensing behavior of Cu@multi-wall carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane strain sensors through surface Cu geometrical structures

Abstract

Strain sensing ability under various service conditions is a fundamental requirement of a strain sensor, while a structural design is a key for obtaining various sensing behaviors to realize high performance of the strain sensor. In this study, we report a new simplified fabrication strategy to produce excellent strain sensors made from copper@multi-wall carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane hybrid films by tailoring the surface Cu geometrical structures with different sensing functions. The Cu film was electrodeposited on the multi-wall carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane film substrates subjected to three different pre-strains of 10%, 20% and 30%. Thus, three types of sensors with different functionalities were fabricated accordingly. The 10% pre-strain sensor with a surface wrinkled Cu structure exhibited a broad strain range (up to 82%), an ultra-high sensitivity with a gauge factor of 263 at a strain of 10% and 2387 at a strain of 80%, and excellent cyclic stability up to 2 × 103 cycles, which are promising to be applied in wearable flexible electronics and intelligent robots. However, the 30% pre-strain sensor with a curled Cu structure exhibited a strong linearity with a correlation coefficient of 99.3% in the whole strain range, which is expected to be used for structural health monitoring and weighing systems.

Graphical abstract: Tailoring sensing behavior of Cu@multi-wall carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane strain sensors through surface Cu geometrical structures

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Jan 2020
Accepted
28 Feb 2020
First published
28 Feb 2020

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020,8, 5202-5210

Tailoring sensing behavior of Cu@multi-wall carbon nanotubes/polydimethylsiloxane strain sensors through surface Cu geometrical structures

Y. Bai, B. Zhang, Z. Wang, Y. Yang, X. Wu and G. Zhang, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2020, 8, 5202 DOI: 10.1039/D0TC00238K

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