Printing of Soft Stretch Sensor from Carbon Black Composites

Abstract

Demand for highly stretchable mechanical sensors for use in the fields of soft robotics and wearable sensors has been constantly rising. Carbon based materials as piezo-resistive material are low-cost and have been widely used. In this paper instead of using the controversial carbonnanotubes, carbon black nano-particles mixed with Ecoflex ® as piezo-resistive nanocomposite are used and measure strain up to 100%. Two fabrication techniques incorporating the printing (namely-"layer-upon-layer" and "embedded") of the carbon black nanocomposite will be explored and the performances of the sensors made from these techniques will be evaluated.

Wireless, Flexible, Ion-Selective Electrode System for Selective and Repeatable Detection of Sodium

“…The significance of using such composite mixture is easy handling and processing on the flexible curved platforms (e.g., flexible circuits, wearables, and fabrics); however, to the best of our knowledge, none of the carbon-based composite transducers has been applied to flexible electronics [7,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. In this case, a silicone elastomer (Ecoflex) is promising as a polymer matrix because of its high stretchability and biocompatibility, of which a composite with carbon was extensively studied as a strain sensor in flexible wearables [25][26][27][28][29]. Considering that silicone materials swell significantly in contact with a tetrahydrofuran (THF) solvent [30,31], proper insulation that endures polymeric shrinkage should be achieved.…”

Flexible and Stretchable Bioelectronics

“…These electrodes have been printed on a barium titanate elastomer composite, and maintained stability through 1000 cycles of 100% strain [ 71 ]. Another application used CB nanoparticles mixed with Ecoflex to create conductive traces inside more Ecoflex to create a stretchable nanocomposite piezo-resistor, decreasing resistance with increased strain [ 72 ].…”