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3D printed high-performance flexible strain sensors based on carbon nanotube and graphene nanoplatelet filled polymer composites

  • Composites & nanocomposites
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Abstract

In this study, high-performance flexible strain sensors based on carbon nanotube (CNT) and graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) filled thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composites were fabricated via Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printing. The introduction of GNPs generated a more complete conductive network of the composites due to the improved nanofiller dispersion. Due to the synergy of CNTs and GNPs, the printed CNT/GNP(3:1)/TPU sensor shows higher sensitivity (GF = 136327.4 at 250% strain), larger detectable range (0–250% strain), and better stability (3000 cycles) compared with the CNT/TPU and GNP/TPU sensors with a nanofiller content of 2 wt%. Furthermore, the printed sensors can accurately detect strains at different frequencies (0.01–1 Hz). A modelling study based on tunneling theory was conducted to analysis the strain sensing mechanism, and the theoretical results agreed well with the experimental data. The capability of the sensors in monitoring physiological activities and speech recognition has also been demonstrated.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2017HH0086, 2017JY0152), Sichuan Provincial University Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Field Materials (No. X151519KCL05), and the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars of Sichuan Province.

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Author notes

  1. Dong Xiang and Xuezhong Zhang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of New Energy and Materials, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, China

    Dong Xiang, Xuezhong Zhang, Zhuohang Han, Zixi Zhang, Xia Luo, Ping Wang, Chunxia Zhao & Yuntao Li

  2. Center for Additive Manufacturing, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK

    Zuoxin Zhou

  3. School of Engineering, University of Ulster, Jordanstown, BT37 0QB, UK

    Eileen Harkin-Jones

  4. School of Mechatronic Engineering, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, 610500, China

    Jie Zhang

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  1. Dong Xiang
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Xiang, D., Zhang, X., Han, Z. et al. 3D printed high-performance flexible strain sensors based on carbon nanotube and graphene nanoplatelet filled polymer composites. J Mater Sci 55, 15769–15786 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-05137-w

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