This work demonstrates the application of electrospun single and bundled carbon nanofibers (CNFs) as piezoresistive sensing elements in flexible and ultralightweight sensors. Material, electrical, and nanomechanical characterizations were conducted on the CNFs to understand the effect of the critical synthesis parameter-the pyrolyzation temperature on the morphological, structural, and electrical properties. The mechanism of conductive path change under the influence of external stress was hypothesized to explain the piezoresistive behavior observed in the CNF bundles. Quasi-static tensile strain characterization of the CNF bundlebased flexible strain sensor showed a linear response with an average gauge factor of 11.14 (for tensile strains up to 50%). Furthermore, conductive graphitic domain discontinuity model was invoked to explain the piezoresistivity originating in a single isolated electrospun CNF. Finally, a single piezoresistive CNF was utilized as a sensing element in an NEMS flow sensor to demonstrate air flow sensing in the range of 5-35 m/s.

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In this paper, the bi-stability of a buckled multi-layered micro-bridge with elastically constrained boundary conditions is studied theoretically and experimentally. The residual moment due to non-symmetric distribution of residual stress in the layers of the micro-bridge is taken into consideration. The buckled shape model, which characterizes the initial buckled deflection, is employed in this study. A systematic method of designing bi-stable buckled micro-bridges has been developed and applied to multi-layered structures. The method is tested against ANSYS simulation and shown to be in excellent agreement. Two multi-layer micro-bridges have been fabricated: (i) 2.5 µm thick low stress SiO2/1 µm thick high compressive stress SiO2/2 µm thick SCS Si; (ii) 1 µm thick high compressive stress SiO2/2 µm thick SCS Si. The fabricated bridges are tested for bi-stability by thermal actuation and the results agree well with the analysis. The intrinsic bi-stable nature of a buckled micro-bridge can only be guaranteed as long as the residual moment is within a certain threshold value.

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Electrospun polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) nanofibers have been widely used in the fabrication of flexible piezoelectric sensors and nanogenerators, due to their excellent mechanical properties. However, their relatively low piezoelectricity is still a critical issue. Herein, a new and effective route to enhance the piezoelectricity of PVDF nanofiber mats by electrospraying zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles between layers of PVDF nanofibers is demonstrated. As compared to the conventional way of dispersing ZnO nanoparticles into PVDF solution for electrospinning nanofiber mats, this approach results in multilayered PVDF+ZnO nanofiber mats with significantly increased piezoelectricity. For example, 6.2 times higher output is achieved when 100% of ZnO (relative to PVDF quantity) is electrosprayed between PVDF nanofibers. Moreover, this new method enables higher loading of ZnO without having processing challenges and the maximum peak voltage of ≈3 V is achieved, when ZnO content increases up to 150%. Additionally, it is shown that the samples with equal amount of material but consisting of different number of layers have no significant difference. This work demonstrates that the proposed multilayer design provides an alternative strategy to enhance the piezoelectricity of PVDF nanofibers, which can be readily scaled up for mass production.