Flexible and transparent pressure sensor arrays can find applications in many places such as touch panels, artificial skin, or human motion detection. However, conventional strain gauges are rigid and opaque and are not suitable for such applications. Graphene‐based percolative strain gauges can overcome these challenges but currently are still in the infancy of their development. In this work, the performance of graphene‐based percolative strain gauges is investigated and guidelines to improve the durability and sensitivity of graphene films as sensing elements are developed. It is found that the gauge factor depends on the initial resistance of the graphene film. For the same film resistance, it is found that graphene flake size and film morphology also play a role in determining the gauge factor. Increasing the flake–flake resistance through assembly of surfactant molecules between graphene flakes provides an additional route to enhance the gauge factor. Furthermore, encapsulating the percolative film in micrometer‐thin Poly(methyl methacrylate) does not disrupt the sensing process but significantly improves the sensor's durability. Finally, thus enhanced graphene strain gauges are integrated into flexible and transparent pressure sensor arrays that exhibit high reproducibility and sensitivity.
The surface porosity of graphene-based aerogels strongly influences their performance in applications involving mass transfer. However, the factors determining the surface porosities are not well-understood, hindering their application-specific optimisation. Here, through experiments and hydrodynamic simulations, we show that the high shear stress during the graphene-based aerogel fabrication process via 3D printing leads to a non-porous surface. Conversely, crosslinking of the sheets hinders flake alignment caused by shearing, resulting in a porous surface. Our findings enable fine control of surface porosity of printed graphene-oxide aerogels (GOA) through regulation of the crosslinking agents and shear stress. Using this strategy, we demonstrate the performance advantages of GOA with porous surface over their non-porous counterpart in dye adsorption, underscoring the importance of surface porosity in certain application scenarios.
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