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Photo-thermoelectric effect induced electricity in stretchable graphene-polymer nanocomposites for ultrasensitive strain sensing

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Abstract

Stretchable strain sensors play an increasingly important role in artificial intelligent devices. However, high-performance strain sensors have been slowly developed owing to the harsh requirement of self-powered function, long cycle life and high resolution. Here, we report a self-powered stretchable graphene-ecoflex composite strain sensor based on photo-thermoelectric (PTE) effect induced electricity. The device exhibits a high strain sensitivity of -0.056 ln(nA)/% with strains ranged from 0% to 20% under 980 nm light illumination, where the strain sensitivity can be found to increase with increasing light intensity. The strain sensor maintains outstanding dynamic stability under periodic strains ranged from 0 to 100% in 100 cycles. The sensing resolution can be as high as 0.5% with both the response and recovery time of less than 0.6 s. It can precisely monitor human joint motions and stretchable strains by implanting the device in pork.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2016YFA0202701), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51472055), External Cooperation Program of BIC, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 121411KYS820150028), the 2015 Annual Beijing Talents Fund (No. 2015000021223ZK32), Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (No. 2017ASKJ01), the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. Y8540XX2D2), and the "thousands talents" program for the pioneer researcher and his innovation team, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Ding Zhang, Yiding Song, Lu Ping, Suwen Xu & Ya Yang

  2. Department of Neurology, Fuling Center Hospital of Chongqing City, Chongqing, 408000, China

    De Yang

  3. Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China

    Yuanhao Wang

  4. School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Ding Zhang, Yiding Song, Lu Ping, Suwen Xu & Ya Yang

  5. Center on Nanoenergy Research, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, China

    Ya Yang

Authors
  1. Ding Zhang
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  2. Yiding Song
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  3. Lu Ping
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  4. Suwen Xu
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  5. De Yang
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  6. Yuanhao Wang
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  7. Ya Yang
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Correspondence to De Yang, Yuanhao Wang or Ya Yang.

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Photo-thermoelectric effect induced electricity in stretchable graphene-polymer nanocomposites for ultrasensitive strain sensing

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Zhang, D., Song, Y., Ping, L. et al. Photo-thermoelectric effect induced electricity in stretchable graphene-polymer nanocomposites for ultrasensitive strain sensing. Nano Res. 12, 2982–2987 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2541-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-019-2541-2

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