High-Performance Pressure Sensor for Monitoring Mechanical Vibration and Air Pressure

Yancheng Meng; Hongwei Li; Kunjie Wu; Suna Zhang; Liqiang Li

doi:10.3390/polym10060587

High-Performance Pressure Sensor for Monitoring Mechanical Vibration and Air Pressure

Polymers (Basel). 2018 May 27;10(6):587. doi: 10.3390/polym10060587.

Authors

Yancheng Meng^{1

2}, Hongwei Li³, Kunjie Wu⁴, Suna Zhang⁵, Liqiang Li^{6

7}

Affiliations

¹ School of Nano-Technology and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. ycmeng2015@sinano.ac.cn.
² Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China. ycmeng2015@sinano.ac.cn.
³ Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China. hwli2015@sinano.ac.cn.
⁴ Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China. kjwu2014@sinano.ac.cn.
⁵ Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China. snzhang2014@sinano.ac.cn.
⁶ School of Nano-Technology and Nano-Bionics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China. lqli2014@sinano.ac.cn.
⁷ Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics (SINANO), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, China. lqli2014@sinano.ac.cn.

Abstract

To realize the practical applications of flexible pressure sensors, the high performance (sensitivity and response time) as well as more functionalities are highly desired. In this work, we fabricated a piezoresistive pressure sensor based on the micro-structured composites films of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and poly (dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS). In addition, we establish efficient strategies to improve key performance of our pressure sensor. Its sensitivity is improved up to 474.13 kPa^-1 by minimizing pressure independent resistance of sensor, and response time is shorten as small as 2 μs by enhancing the elastic modulus of polymer elastomer. Benefiting from the high performance, the functionalities of sensors are successfully extended to the accurate detection of high frequency mechanical vibration (~300 Hz) and large range of air pressure (6⁻101 kPa), both of which are not achieved before.

Keywords: mechanical vibration and air pressure; pressure sensor; ultra-fast response.