Fabrication of piezoresistive devices based on dielectric elastomers via ultrasonic spraying

Yi, Jianan; Ciarella, Luca; Shamraienko, Volodymyr; Babick, Frank; Borin, Dmitry; Scharff, Moritz; Ni, Junhao; Wilson, Katherine E.; Richter, Andreas; Henke, E.-F. Markus

doi:10.1117/12.2611720

Cited by 3 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Overall, the gravitational sedimentation velocities of these three inks were lower than 100 μm/day (Ink-CLB: 0.54 μm/day, Ink-TGME: 51.90 μm/day, Ink-TGME/CLB:13.89 μm/day; average value), which can be considered stable. 46 These inks are expected to show improved stability compared to previously reported ink recipes, such as CB/n-methylpyrrolidone (NMP) ink (stable for a few days) 56 and CB/silicone/ Belsil 0.65/dispersant ink (stable/printable for a few hours). 20 The particle size distribution results are plotted in Figure 3.…”

Section: Ink Properties: Stability and Particle Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

“…When the DEA actuation was evaluated, the copper tape was adhered to the frame edge and connected to the leads of the printed DEA electrode by manually applying some conductive carbon grease. A high-voltage generator 46 was used to apply voltage on the DEA. The voltage was gradually increased up to 4600 and 4000 V for the DEA printed with Ink-TGME and Ink-TGME/CLB, respectively.…”

Section: Sheet Resistance Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterizations and Inkjet Printing of Carbon Black Electrodes for Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Yi,

Babick,

Strobel

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have been proposed as a promising technology for developing soft robotics and stretchable electronics due to their large actuation. Among available fabrication techniques, inkjet printing is a digital, maskfree, material-saving, and fast technology, making it versatile and appealing for fabricating DEA electrodes. However, there is still a lack of suitable materials for inkjet-printed electrodes. In this study, multiple carbon black (CB) inks were developed and tested as DEA electrodes inkjet-printed on acrylic membranes (VHB). Triethylene glycol monomethyl ether (TGME) and chlorobenzene (CLB) were selected to disperse CB. The inks' stability, particle size, surface tension, viscosity, electrical resistance, and printability were characterized. The DEA with Ink-TGME/CLB (mixture solvent) electrodes obtained 80.63% area strain, a new benchmark for the DEA actuation with CB powder electrodes on VHB. The novelty of this work involves the disclosure of a new ink recipe (TGME/CLB/CB) for inkjet printing that can obtain stable drop formations with a small nozzle (17 × 17 μm), high resolution (∼25 μm, approaching the limit of drop-on-demand inkjet printing), and the largest area strain of DEAs under similar conditions, distinguishing this contribution from the previous works, which is important for the fabrication and miniaturization of DEA-based soft and stretchable electronics.

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Section: Ink Properties: Stability and Particle Sizementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Sheet Resistance Measurementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizations and Inkjet Printing of Carbon Black Electrodes for Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Yi,

Babick,

Strobel

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…The stability evaluation for the inkjet printing ink can be found in our previous work 36 . Simply, a dispersion analyzer (LUMiSizer 6512-93, LUM GmbH, Germany) with a wavelength of 470 nm was employed to assess the sedimentation velocity (vsed, in µm/s or mm/d) of the CB particles in the ink.…”

Section: Ink Stability Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It can be seen that the transmission at the end of the test (Green curve) is still almost zero, which suggests that there were still a lot of free CB particles in the ink and the sedimentation of CB particles was not considerable during the test. The sedimentation rate can be calculated and converted to the sedimentation velocity at the earth gravity 36 , which is 0.58 µm/day for this ink. This sedimentation rate is much slower than 100 µm/day, indicating high stability for the ink.…”

Section: Characterizations Of the Inkjet Printing Inkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the soft matrices in dielectric elastomer actuator electrodes on their actuation performance

Shamraienko

Eychmüller

et al. 2023

Electroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) XXV

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Dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) based flexible and stretchable electronics have attracted considerable attention over the past decades. The electrode components play an important role in the DEA performance. In this work, we studied how the incorporation of soft matrices in the electrodes affects the DEA actuation. The ultrasonic spraying was used to fabricate multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) based electrodes for DEA. The results indicated that the addition of a water-soluble block polymer and silicone gel (acting as the soft matrices) could improve the actuation of the DEA with neat MWCNT electrodes by ~10% and ~24%, respectively. An inkjet printing ink, consisting of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), carbon black (CB) and chlorobenzene, was further developed. The stability, particle size, resistance, and morphology of 1-3 printing layers were characterized. The DEA with the inkjet-printed CB/PDMS electrodes showed 50% area stain at 2500 V, which is higher than the actuation with neat CB powder or CNT electrodes reported previously. Both results of the ultrasonic spraying and inkjet printing confirmed that the incorporation of soft matrices in the electrodes is helpful for DEA actuation.

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“…15,16 Applying the electrode layer and elastomer layer are the main technological steps for the manufacturing of DESs. The most common technologies are: spray coating through a shadow mask, 17 screen printing, 18 Aerosol-Jet-Printing, 16 ultrasonic spraying, 19 inkjet printing, 20 Doctor Blade 21 and using a jetting system. 17 Although each method has its own advantages and disadvantages, we have chosen Doctor Blade as the preferred method in this study due to its ease of use, low cost and short time required to apply the electrode layer.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of manufacturing parameters on the quality of electrodes of a multi-layer capacitive strain sensor based on dielectric elastomers

Prokopchuk

Ewert

Menning

et al. 2023

Active and Passive Smart Structures and Integrated Systems XVII

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Since the significant growth of interest in soft robotics, artificial muscles and biomimetics, soft, capacitive dielectric elastomer sensors (DES) have been in the focus of development. However, when including a sensor into any device, tool or, for example, a machine element, there are several factors which have to be considered, e.g., the ease of embedding the sensor, the maintenance of the functionality of the machine element, as well as the quality of the embedded sensors and their reproducibility. In this work, we will focus on the quality of the sensor and present a procedure for manufacturing multi-layer capacitive strain sensors. In order to assess the influence of different manufacturing processes on the quality of capacitive DES, a variety of thin multi-layer sensors were fabricated. Furthermore, using an LCR meter, the equivalent electrical capacitances (C) at the two sensor contacts were measured. It is shown that C varies depending on the quality of the electrodes. By testing multi-layer DES (ML-DES) with an electrode diameter of d electrode = 3 mm, with three and four electrode layers, a maximum capacitance of C 0 = 6.7 pF and C 0 = 10.5 pF was achieved for the undeformed sensor, respectively. The obtained capacitance values show that following the presented recommendations for creation the electrodes enables to improve the reproducibility and quality of the manufactured ML-DES. The fabricated sensor is soft and deformable due to the compliance of the elastomeric film used. Such a capacitive ML-DES can be used, for example, as a soft strain sensor implemented into the elastic element of a jaw coupling.

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Fabrication of piezoresistive devices based on dielectric elastomers via ultrasonic spraying

Cited by 3 publications

References 47 publications

Characterizations and Inkjet Printing of Carbon Black Electrodes for Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Characterizations and Inkjet Printing of Carbon Black Electrodes for Dielectric Elastomer Actuators

Effects of the soft matrices in dielectric elastomer actuator electrodes on their actuation performance

Influence of manufacturing parameters on the quality of electrodes of a multi-layer capacitive strain sensor based on dielectric elastomers

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