Inkjet Printed All-Polymer Flexural Plate Wave Sensors

Abstract

We discuss the fabrication and performance of an all-polymer, flexural plate wave gravimetric sensor using flexible, piezoelectric Polyvinylidene fluoride as the substrate and an inkjet-printed interdigital transducer (IDT) employing conductive poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) to excite Lamb waves within the film. Lamb waves are measured both electronically, using a second IDT, and mapped directly using a scanning laser Doppler vibrometer. Pulsed wave excitation is utilized to isolate the weak acoustic signal from the electromagnetic crosstalk, enabling the measurement of relative changes in the resonant frequency, f/ f 0 , in response to added mass, m, to the sensing area. A gravimetric mass sensitivity equivalent to f/( f 0 m) = −153 cm 2 /g is measured by mass loading the sensor with printed polymer layers. It is found that the low stiffness of the substrate contributes significantly to the response of the sensor, yielding a measured overall sensitivity of f/( f 0 m) = −83 cm 2 /g.

A Fuzzy Logic Based Piezoresistive/Piezoelectric Fusion Algorithm for Carbon Nanocomposite Wide Band Strain Sensor

“…In terms of polymer matrix, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has been widely studied and used for piezoelectricity based sensing and actuation applications due to their affordable cost, mechanical characteristics, and chemical stability. PVDF has been utilized in force/pressure sensing, energy harvesting, humidity and gas flow sensors, and acoustic and ultrasonic sensors [28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Several researchers have investigated the advantages of mixing CNT with PVDF.…”

Inkjet Printing of Plate Acoustic Wave Devices

“…Thus, there is no need to use super inkjet printing with high resolution to produce acoustic sensors based on the plate acoustic waves. The possibility of the production of a flexible gravimetric sensor based on a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric film with the interdigital transducers created by means of the direct inkjet printing was previously demonstrated [ 30 ]. In this case, wavelength was equal to 0.8 mm, and the strip width was equal to 0.2 mm.…”

Influences of Excitation on Dynamic Characteristics of Piezoelectric Micro-Jets

“…As it can achieve drop-on-demand injection, piezoelectric micro-jet technology is widely applied in various fields, such as ejecting metal nanoparticles [ 1 ], cell printing [ 2 , 3 , 4 ], color printing [ 5 ], drug delivery [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], manufacturing [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ], and sensors [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ], etc. In addition, there are other alternate technologies to achieve drop-on-demand injection such as pyroelectric ink-jet printing [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], etc.…”