This paper presents a new flexible magnetic field sensor based on Ag nanowires and magnetic nanoparticles doped in polydimethylsiloxane (AgNWs & MNs-PDMS) with sandwich structure. The MNs act as the sensitive unit for magnetic field sensing in this work. Besides, the conductive networks are made by AgNWs during deformation. Magnetostriction leads to the resistance change of the AgNWs & MNs-PDMS sensors. Furthermore, the MNs increase the conductive paths for electrons, leading to lower initial resistance and higher sensitivity of the resulting sensor during deformation. A point worth emphasizing is that the interaction of the AgNWs and MNs plays irreplaceable role in magnetic field sensing, so the resistance change during stretching and shrinking was investigated. The flexible magnetic field sensor based on the mass ratio of MNs and AgNWs is 1:5 showed the highest sensitivity of 24.14 Ω/T in magnetic field sensing experiment. Finally, the magnetostrictive and piezoresistive sensing model were established to explore the mechanism of the sensor.
Keywords: Flexible sensor; Magnetic field detection; Nanomaterials.