Flexible, Tunable, and Ultrasensitive Capacitive Pressure Sensor with Microconformal Graphene Electrodes.
Jun YangShi LuoXi ZhouJialu LiJianting FuWeidong YangDapeng WeiPublished in: ACS applied materials & interfaces (2019)
High-performance flexible pressure sensors are highly desirable in health monitoring, robotic tactile, and artificial intelligence. Construction of microstructures in dielectrics and electrodes is the dominating approach to improving the performance of capacitive pressure sensors. Herein, we have demonstrated a novel three-dimensional microconformal graphene electrode for ultrasensitive and tunable flexible capacitive pressure sensors. Because the fabrication process is controllable, the morphologies of the graphene that is perfectly conformal with the electrode are controllable consequently. Multiscale morphologies ranging from a few nanometers to hundreds of nanometers, even to tens of micrometers, have been systematically investigated, and the high-performance capacitive pressure sensor with high sensitivity (3.19 kPa-1), fast response (30 ms), ultralow detection limit (1 mg), tunable-sensitivity, high flexibility, and high stability was obtained. Furthermore, an ultrasensitivity of 7.68 kPa-1 was successfully achieved via symmetric double microconformal graphene electrodes. The finite element analysis indicates that the microstructured graphene electrode can enhance large deformation and thus effectively improve the sensitivity. Additionally, the proposed pressure sensors are demonstrated with practical applications including insect crawling detection, wearable health monitoring, and force feedback of robot tactile sensing with a sensor array. The microconformal graphene may provide a new approach to fabricating controllable microstructured electrodes to enhance the performance of capacitive pressure sensors and has great potential for innovative applications in wearable health-monitoring devices, robot tactile systems, and human-machine interface systems.
Keyphrases
- carbon nanotubes
- artificial intelligence
- solid state
- healthcare
- public health
- low cost
- mental health
- room temperature
- machine learning
- endothelial cells
- deep learning
- gold nanoparticles
- label free
- mass spectrometry
- health information
- walled carbon nanotubes
- blood pressure
- human health
- high throughput
- high resolution
- minimally invasive
- zika virus
- risk assessment
- high speed
- atomic force microscopy
- high density