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Single-walled carbon nanotube network/poly composite thin film for flow sensor

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Abstract

A fabrication method about single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) network and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) based composite thin film is reported, which can be used as flow sensor cell. This composite thin film is immersed in deionized water and salt solution with different flow rate tests. The morphology of SWCNTs on the surface of the composite thin film is characterized by scanning electron microscopy, revealing the SWCNTs are coated by PDMS chains. The induced voltage generates along the direction of the flowing liquid and depends significantly on the ionic concentration and flow velocity. Since the SWCNTs are fixed into PDMS matrix, the I–V curves of the composite thin film before and after several flow velocity measurements are exactly coincident, and the repeating flow-induced voltage experiment shows the composite thin film has a reliable electric characteristic and wide potential of device application.

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Abbreviations

SWCNT:

Single-walled carbon nanotube

PDMS:

Polydimethylsiloxane

CNT:

Carbon nanotube

MWCNT:

Multi-walled carbon nanotube

NTN:

Nanotube network

DMF:

Dimethylformamide

PTFE:

Poly-tetrafluoro-ethylene

SEM:

Scanning electro microscope

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Acknowledgments

Our team is grateful to School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology and Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics for supporting this work. This work was supported by national high technology research and development “863” program of China (No. 2007AA04Z348).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Hui Cao, Zhiyin Gan, Qiang Lv & Sheng Liu

  2. Institute of Microsystems, Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, No.1037, Luoyu Road, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Hui Cao, Zhiyin Gan, Qiang Lv, Han Yan, Xiaobin Luo & Sheng Liu

  3. Department of Electronic Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Han Yan

  4. School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China

    Xiaobin Luo

  5. Research Institute of Micro/Nano Science and Technology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Xiaohui Song

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  1. Hui Cao
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  2. Zhiyin Gan
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  3. Qiang Lv
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  4. Han Yan
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  5. Xiaobin Luo
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  6. Xiaohui Song
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  7. Sheng Liu
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Correspondence to Sheng Liu.

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Cao, H., Gan, Z., Lv, Q. et al. Single-walled carbon nanotube network/poly composite thin film for flow sensor. Microsyst Technol 16, 955–959 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-010-1055-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-010-1055-3

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