Computational analysis of metallic nanowire-elastomer nanocomposite based strain sensors

Lee, S., Amjadi, M. , Pugno, N., Park, I. and Ryu, S. (2015) Computational analysis of metallic nanowire-elastomer nanocomposite based strain sensors. AIP Advances, 5(11), 117233. (doi: 10.1063/1.4936635)

Abstract

Possessing a strong piezoresistivity, nanocomposites of metal nanowires and elastomer have been studied extensively for its use in highly flexible, stretchable, and sensitive sensors. In this work, we analyze the working mechanism and performance of a nanocomposite based stretchable strain sensor by calculating the conductivity of the nanowire percolation network as a function of strain. We reveal that the nonlinear piezoresistivity is attributed to the topological change of percolation network, which leads to a bottleneck in the electric path. We find that, due to enhanced percolation, the linearity of the sensor improves with increasing aspect ratio or volume fraction of the nanowires at the expense of decreasing gauge factor. In addition, we show that a wide range of gauge factors (from negative to positive) can be obtained by changing the orientation distribution of nanowires. Our study suggests a way to intelligently design nanocomposite-based piezoresistive sensors for flexible and wearable devices.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This work was supported mainly by the Global Frontier Program (NRF-2008-2002807) and additionally by the Basic Science Research Program (2013R1A1A010091) of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning. N.M.P. is supported by the European Research Council (ERC StG Ideas 2011 BIHSNAM no. 279985 on ‘Bioinspired hierarchical supernanomaterials’, ERC PoC 2013-1 REPLICA2 no. 619448 on ‘Large-area replication of biological anti-adhesive nanosurfaces’, ERC PoC 2013-2 KNOTOUGH no. 632277 on ‘Super-tough knotted fibres’), by the European Commission under the Graphene Flagship (WP10 ‘Nanocomposites’, no. 604391) and by the Provincia Autonoma di Trento (‘Graphene nanocomposites’, no. S116/2012-242637 and reg. delib. no. 2266).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Amjadi Kolour, Dr Morteza
• Authors: Lee, S., Amjadi, M., Pugno, N., Park, I., and Ryu, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Biomedical Engineering
• Journal Name: AIP Advances
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics
• ISSN: 2158-3226
• ISSN (Online): 2158-3226
• Copyright Holders: Copyright: © 2015 Author(s)
• First Published: First published in AIP Advances 5(11): 117233
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence