Monitoring structural integrity during and after extreme events such as an earthquake or a tsunami is a mundane yet important task that still awaits a workable solution. Currently available stress sensors are not sufficiently robust and are affected by humidity. Insufficient information about crack formation preceding structural failure increases risk during rescue operations significantly. Designing durable stress sensors that are not affected by harsh and changing environment and do not fail under catastrophic conditions is a fundamental challenge. To address this problem, we developed a stress sensor based on creased singlewalled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) encapsulated in a non-fluorinated superhydrophobic coating. The creased SWCNT film was fabricated and integrated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to provide a highly linear response under elastic deformation. The non-fluorinated water-repellent coating was fabricated by spray-coating the film with nanosilica particles, providing water resistance during elastic deformation.The compact design and superior water resistance of the sensor, along with its appealing linearity and 1 large stretchability, demonstrates the scalability of this approach for fabricating efficient strain sensors for applications in infrastructure and robotic safety management as well as advanced wearable sensors.Monitoring structural integrity during and after extreme events such as an earthquake or a tsunami is a mundane yet important task that still awaits a workable solution. Additionally, the mechanical frame strength of transportation must be continuously monitored for sufficient safety. Currently available strain sensors are not sufficiently robust and are affected by humidity. A water-proof strain sensor would be applicable for infrastructure safety management in harsh environments. Such a harmless water-proof strain sensor could also be used as an advanced wearable sensor. Insufficient information about crack formation preceding structural failure increases risk during rescue operations significantly. To address this problem, we developed a strain sensor based on creased single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) encapsulated in a non-fluorinated superhydrophobic coating. The SWCNT film was fabricated and integrated in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to provide a highly linear response under elastic deformation.The non-fluorinated water-repellent coating was fabricated by spray-coating the film with nanosilica particles, providing water resistance during elastic deformation. The compact design and superior water resistance of the sensor, along with its appealing linearity and large stretchability, demonstrates the scalability of this approach for fabricating efficient strain sensors for applications in infrastructure and robotic safety management.Governments must guarantee safety and present environments to preserve life while maintaining a comfortable urban landscape with minimal economic burden. Particularly, numerous infrastructures, such as buildings, bridges, dams, and tunnels, in adva...
Direct Glucose Fuel Cell (DGFC) is attracting attention as a clean and sustainable energy source because glucose is the most organic substance in nature. In this study, the effect of the mesopores of marimo nano carbon (MNC) on power generation performance for anode material of direct glucose fuel cell was investigated. Three types of MNC with different mesopore distributions were used for the catalyst support material, Pt was used as the supported metal. Also, Vulcan XC-72 which is carbon black of microporous material was used as a comparative material. In the glucose fuel cell performance test, MNC having many pores of about 35 nm showed the highest maximum output density of 0.72 mW cm-2 at 5 wt% metal loading and 0.3 M Glucose. Vulcan XC-72, which was a microporous material had low power generation performance. MNC showed higher power generation performance than that of Vulcan XC-72. The pores of about 35 nm probably promoted ion diffusion and rapid mass transport of reactants and products. These results indicated that MNC was an effective material as anode material for DGFC.
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