A Novel Capacitive-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor Based on Stretchable Composite Electrodes and a Dielectric Elastomer With Microstructures

This paper presents a novel capacitive-based flexible pressure sensor that achieves a relatively high sensitivity with an outstanding linearity over a large measurement range, as well as low-pressure detection capacity. The proposed sensor mainly consists of two flexible conductive composite electro...

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Main Authors: Wenxuan Hao, Jin Guo, Chenglong Wang, Shuxin Wang, Chaoyang Shi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2020-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9154457/
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author Wenxuan Hao
Jin Guo
Chenglong Wang
Shuxin Wang
Chaoyang Shi
author_facet Wenxuan Hao
Jin Guo
Chenglong Wang
Shuxin Wang
Chaoyang Shi
author_sort Wenxuan Hao
collection DOAJ
description This paper presents a novel capacitive-based flexible pressure sensor that achieves a relatively high sensitivity with an outstanding linearity over a large measurement range, as well as low-pressure detection capacity. The proposed sensor mainly consists of two flexible conductive composite electrodes and one micro-structured elastomer with both pillars and cavities. The highly stretchable modal fabrics and carbon nanotubes conductive paste have been proposed for mixture to generate flexible capacitor electrode plates, and provide improved attributes in terms of excellent flexibility, conductivity, and air permeability. The micro-structured elastomers have been proposed and fabricated via demolding the silicone poured into the high-precision patterns that are produced by the 3D printing techniques. The exerted compression on assembled sensor prototype can induce decreased distance between electrode plates and increased dielectric constant due to the air deflation, leading to enhanced sensor sensitivity. By comparing three types of microstructures for the elastomers, it is found that the cubic-structure type can achieve a high sensitivity (232*10<sup>-4</sup> kPa<sup>-1</sup>) with an excellent linearity of 99.4% in the measurement range of [0 kPa, 100 kPa]. The proposed flexible sensor has been prototyped, and several experiments have been performed for quantitative investigation and assessment. The grasp-and-release operations of a water-filled paper cup have been performed using a wearable glove embedded with two sensor prototypes, proving the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed sensor design.
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spelling doaj.art-611d0f48788e4cdf903e98d8877469232022-12-21T19:52:41ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362020-01-01814281014281810.1109/ACCESS.2020.30137979154457A Novel Capacitive-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor Based on Stretchable Composite Electrodes and a Dielectric Elastomer With MicrostructuresWenxuan Hao0Jin Guo1Chenglong Wang2Shuxin Wang3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1609-5326Chaoyang Shi4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9065-9057Key Laboratory of Mechanism Theory and Equipment Design, Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, ChinaSchool of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, ChinaKey Laboratory of Mechanism Theory and Equipment Design, Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, ChinaKey Laboratory of Mechanism Theory and Equipment Design, Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, ChinaKey Laboratory of Mechanism Theory and Equipment Design, Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, ChinaThis paper presents a novel capacitive-based flexible pressure sensor that achieves a relatively high sensitivity with an outstanding linearity over a large measurement range, as well as low-pressure detection capacity. The proposed sensor mainly consists of two flexible conductive composite electrodes and one micro-structured elastomer with both pillars and cavities. The highly stretchable modal fabrics and carbon nanotubes conductive paste have been proposed for mixture to generate flexible capacitor electrode plates, and provide improved attributes in terms of excellent flexibility, conductivity, and air permeability. The micro-structured elastomers have been proposed and fabricated via demolding the silicone poured into the high-precision patterns that are produced by the 3D printing techniques. The exerted compression on assembled sensor prototype can induce decreased distance between electrode plates and increased dielectric constant due to the air deflation, leading to enhanced sensor sensitivity. By comparing three types of microstructures for the elastomers, it is found that the cubic-structure type can achieve a high sensitivity (232*10<sup>-4</sup> kPa<sup>-1</sup>) with an excellent linearity of 99.4% in the measurement range of [0 kPa, 100 kPa]. The proposed flexible sensor has been prototyped, and several experiments have been performed for quantitative investigation and assessment. The grasp-and-release operations of a water-filled paper cup have been performed using a wearable glove embedded with two sensor prototypes, proving the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed sensor design.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9154457/Capacitive sensorsflexible sensorswearable sensorspressure sensors
spellingShingle Wenxuan Hao
Jin Guo
Chenglong Wang
Shuxin Wang
Chaoyang Shi
A Novel Capacitive-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor Based on Stretchable Composite Electrodes and a Dielectric Elastomer With Microstructures
IEEE Access
Capacitive sensors
flexible sensors
wearable sensors
pressure sensors
title A Novel Capacitive-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor Based on Stretchable Composite Electrodes and a Dielectric Elastomer With Microstructures
title_full A Novel Capacitive-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor Based on Stretchable Composite Electrodes and a Dielectric Elastomer With Microstructures
title_fullStr A Novel Capacitive-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor Based on Stretchable Composite Electrodes and a Dielectric Elastomer With Microstructures
title_full_unstemmed A Novel Capacitive-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor Based on Stretchable Composite Electrodes and a Dielectric Elastomer With Microstructures
title_short A Novel Capacitive-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor Based on Stretchable Composite Electrodes and a Dielectric Elastomer With Microstructures
title_sort novel capacitive based flexible pressure sensor based on stretchable composite electrodes and a dielectric elastomer with microstructures
topic Capacitive sensors
flexible sensors
wearable sensors
pressure sensors
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9154457/
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