Development of a 3D distributed carbon nanotubes on flexible polymer for normal and shear forces measurement

Development of patterned carbon nanotubes on a 3D polymer substrate for the flexible tactile sensor application

“…This study extends the previous patterning 3D CNT process [26] and CNT-based flexible tactile sensor technology [22] to establish the fabrication processes illustrated in figure 3. Therefore, the patterned CNT sensing elements and metal routings can be implemented on the flexible-polymer substrate with tactile bump and further integrated with the FPC.…”

“…Thus, the presented process successfully transferred patterned CNTs and metal routings, and packaged the FPC connector into the flexible polymer substrate. In comparison, the electrical routings in [22] were directly deposited on the PDMS substrate after the de-molding process. Due to poor adhesion between the metal and the PDMS, the crack and delamination problem would easily occur.…”

“…Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has served as a popular material in the development of a flexible sensor and biological device due to the chemical stability, biocompatibility and mechanical flexibility. The flexible tactile sensor with a bump and patterned CNTs by a simple PDMS polymer molding process has been investigated in [22]. However, because of the low surface energy of PDMS [23,24], poor adhesion with metal electrical routings is still a challenge for such a flexible tactile sensor.…”

Biomimetic tactile sensor and spike train processing for surface roughness discrimination and active exploration

“…Percolative composites: percolative composites are formed by dispersed conductive fillers such as carbon black (CB) [57], [58], graphite [59], [60] and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [61], [62] within an insulating matrix. The conductivity of percolative composites will be altered when a pressure is applied.…”

“…In order to mimic the tactile capability of the human finger, many types of tactile sensors have been developed based on various transduction techniques, e.g., capacitive, piezoresistive, piezoelectric, inductive and optical techniques [61], [81], [143], [144] .…”