Exfoliated Graphite Nanoplatelet-Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Composites for Compression Sensing

Changyoon Jeong; Young-Bin Park

doi:10.1021/acsomega.9b03012

Exfoliated Graphite Nanoplatelet-Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Composites for Compression Sensing

ACS Omega. 2020 Feb 3;5(6):2630-2639. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.9b03012. eCollection 2020 Feb 18.

Authors

Changyoon Jeong¹, Young-Bin Park¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea.

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the gauge factor and compressive modulus of hybrid nanocomposites of exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets (xGnP) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) in a polydimethylsiloxane matrix under compressive strain. Mechanical and electrical tests were conducted to investigate the effects of nanofiller wt %, the xGnP size, and xGnP:MWCNT ratio on the compressive modulus and sensitivity of the sensors. It was found that nanofiller wt %, the xGnP size, and xGnP:MWCNT ratio significantly affect the electromechanical properties of the sensor. The compressive modulus increased with an increase in the nanofiller wt % and a decrease in the xGnP size and xGnP:MWCNT ratio. However, the gauge factor decreases with a decrease in the nanofiller wt % and xGnP size and an increase in the xGnP:MWCNT ratio. Therefore, by investigating the piezoresistive effects of various factors for sensing performance, such as wt %, xGnP size, and xGnP:MWCNT ratio, the concept of one- and two-dimensional hybrid fillers provides an effective way to tune both mechanical properties and sensitivity of nanocomposites by tailoring the network structure of fillers.