Stanford researchers are developing new sensors as flexible and sensitive to pressure that could be used to make prosthetic touch, pressure-sensitive plates, and more.
By incorporating a transparent film of carbon nano-sources, the sensor "can record pressure ranging from a strong pinch between thumb and forefinger to double the pressure exerted by an elephant on one foot" says Darren Lipomi postdoctoral researcher, co-author of an article published October 23 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. "None of this makes any permanent deformation."
The team built the nano-sources airbrushing nanotubes (which are in liquid suspension) in a thin layer of, you guessed it, silicone. Then spread the silicone to get some of those little packets in the alignment in the direction of stretching. After his release, the packages are returned back to its original dimensions, randomly oriented, whereas in fact bent nanotubes and nanostructures formed seem springs.
By stretching the silicone for the second time in a direction perpendicular to the line first, some of the other nanotube bundles aligned in the second direction, so that the sensor is fully extensible in any direction with full recovery.
"Having done this kind of stretching prior to the nanotubes behave like springs and can stretch over and over again, without any permanent change in the way," said Zhenan Bao, associate professor of chemical engineering, in a press release of the institution.
Add to repeat the stretch below the original span length is not significantly alter the electrical conductivity, and the maintenance of the conductivity in a stretched and compressed is key because the sensors for measuring the force applied to them through the nanostructures as spring, which serve as electrodes.
A silicone layer actually stores electrical charge much in the way a battery does, and when pressure is exerted on the sensor (think of an elephant stomps), which compresses the layer, which alters the electrical charge it can store. It is this change which is perceived by carbon nanotubes, causing the sensor to transmit information on the levels of pressure.
The team believes that the types of uniform pressure-induced deformation (stretching versus the compression) can be solved due to the very patterns of deformation. With compression, for example, a bull's eye pattern is more likely that most deformation is concentrated in the center.
This sensor is not sensitive to the pressure of previous efforts Bao's team, created a highly sensitive sensor that can detect pressure "well below the pressure exerted by a body 20 milligrams hornet fly." For this sensor, the focus was less on the sensitivity and elasticity, but Bao insists that with some modifications, this sensor can boast the best of both worlds
By incorporating a transparent film of carbon nano-sources, the sensor "can record pressure ranging from a strong pinch between thumb and forefinger to double the pressure exerted by an elephant on one foot" says Darren Lipomi postdoctoral researcher, co-author of an article published October 23 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology. "None of this makes any permanent deformation."
By stretching the silicone for the second time in a direction perpendicular to the line first, some of the other nanotube bundles aligned in the second direction, so that the sensor is fully extensible in any direction with full recovery.
"Having done this kind of stretching prior to the nanotubes behave like springs and can stretch over and over again, without any permanent change in the way," said Zhenan Bao, associate professor of chemical engineering, in a press release of the institution.
Add to repeat the stretch below the original span length is not significantly alter the electrical conductivity, and the maintenance of the conductivity in a stretched and compressed is key because the sensors for measuring the force applied to them through the nanostructures as spring, which serve as electrodes.
A silicone layer actually stores electrical charge much in the way a battery does, and when pressure is exerted on the sensor (think of an elephant stomps), which compresses the layer, which alters the electrical charge it can store. It is this change which is perceived by carbon nanotubes, causing the sensor to transmit information on the levels of pressure.
The team believes that the types of uniform pressure-induced deformation (stretching versus the compression) can be solved due to the very patterns of deformation. With compression, for example, a bull's eye pattern is more likely that most deformation is concentrated in the center.
This sensor is not sensitive to the pressure of previous efforts Bao's team, created a highly sensitive sensor that can detect pressure "well below the pressure exerted by a body 20 milligrams hornet fly." For this sensor, the focus was less on the sensitivity and elasticity, but Bao insists that with some modifications, this sensor can boast the best of both worlds
