Aerosol-jet-printed, conformable microfluidic force sensors

Jing, Q. , Pace, A., Ives, L., Husmann, A., Ćatić, N., Khanduja, V., Cama, J. and Kar-Narayan, S. (2021) Aerosol-jet-printed, conformable microfluidic force sensors. Cell Reports Physical Science, 2(4), p. 100386. (doi: 10.1016/j.xcrp.2021.100386) (PMID:33928263) (PMCID:PMC8063179)

Abstract

Force sensors that are thin, low-cost, flexible, and compatible with commercial microelectronic chips are of great interest for use in biomedical sensing, precision surgery, and robotics. By leveraging a combination of microfluidics and capacitive sensing, we develop a thin, flexible force sensor that is conformable and robust. The sensor consists of a partially filled microfluidic channel made from a deformable material, with the channel overlaying a series of interdigitated electrodes coated with a thin, insulating polymer layer. When a force is applied to the microfluidic channel reservoir, the fluid is displaced along the channel over the electrodes, thus inducing a capacitance change proportional to the applied force. The microfluidic molds themselves are made of low-cost sacrificial materials deposited via aerosol-jet printing, which is also used to print the electrode layer. We envisage a large range of industrial and biomedical applications for this force sensor.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: S.K.-N. is grateful for support from a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (ERC-2014-STG-639526, NANOGEN). S.K.-N. and Q.J. acknowledge support from the EPSRC Centre of Advanced Materials for Integrated Energy Systems "CAM-IES’’ (grant EP/P007767/1). J.C. is currently supported by a Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Award to the University of Exeter (204909/Z/16/Z); for the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. L.I. acknowledges support from an EPSRC Doctoral Training Partnership studentship (EP/R513180/1).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Jing, Dr Qingshen

Creator Roles

Jing, Q.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review and editing, Supervision, Visualization

• Authors: Jing, Q., Pace, A., Ives, L., Husmann, A., Ćatić, N., Khanduja, V., Cama, J., and Kar-Narayan, S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Systems Power and Energy
• Journal Name: Cell Reports Physical Science
• Publisher: Elsevier
• ISSN: 2666-3864
• ISSN (Online): 2666-3864
• Published Online: 30 March 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Author(s)
• First Published: First published in Cell Reports Physical Science 2(4):100386
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license