Inkjet printed 2D-crystal based strain gauges on paper

Abstract

We present an investigation of inkjet printed strain gauges based on two-dimensional (2D) materials. The technology leverages water-based and biocompatible inks to fabricate strain measurement devices on flexible substrates such as paper. We demonstrate that the device performance and sensitivity are strongly dependent on the printing parameter (i.e., dropspacing, number of printing passes, etc.). We show that values of the Gauge Factor up to 125 can be obtained, with large sensitivity (>20%) even when small strains (0.3%) are applied. Furthermore, we provide preliminary examples of heterostructure-based strain sensors, enabled by the inkjet printing technology.

A Flexible Strain Sensor of Ba(Ti, Nb)O3/Mica with a Broad Working Temperature Range

“…Compared with existing works that utilize carbon nanotubes, graphene, or metal nanowires as the strain‐sensitive material needing tedious and time‐consuming transfer or electrospinning that cannot be well compatible with standard semiconductor processes, the process used in this work is simple and efficient to realize the device fabrication. It should be mentioned that printing technique has also received much attentions for the fabrication of the strain‐sensitive materials . The surface morphologies of the mica substrate and BNTO film were characterized by using atomic force microscopy (AFM), as shown in Figure b,c.…”

Realization of a micro composite based pressure sensor: Its performance study for linearity, hysteresis and sensitivity

“…Moreover, the cleanroom standards pertaining to dust free and temperature controlled environments are also of major concern. Consequently, the fabrication of pressure sensors using microelectronic processes becomes expensive and not suitable for high speed production [4,5]. Numerous demonstrations in the literature illustrate about the replacement of microelectronic processes by the unconventional approaches of implementing the pressure sensors.…”

“…have been replaced by polymers, resins, amorphous carbon, SW/MWCNTs, graphene and other carbon variants because of the striking advantages offered by these materials [3,[6][7][8]. Also, considering the pressure sensor fabrication methodologies, a variety of novel approaches such as molding, airbrush stencil technique, spraying, hand drawing, printing, laser patterning etc., that deviate from the conventional microelectronic processes in many ways, have been attempted by various authors [5,[9][10][11][12][13][14]. Fabricating the pressure sensor devices using these techniques does not require sophisticated facilities or expertise.…”

“…Cost efficiency and reduction of material wastage have aided in focusing the research on traditional printing techniques for the development of electronic devices for low operational temperatures. In this methodology, the transducing materials are printed on sensor devices using various printing techniques such as ink jet printing, screen printing, offset printing, aerosol jet printing, laser patterning [5,11,12] etc. These techniques provide tremendous scope for using diversified class of substrates such as glass, acrylic, PVC, poly dimethyl siloxane (PDMS), poly methyl meta acrylate (PMMA), polyethylene terephthalate (PET, such as Mylar), polyimide (PI, such as Kapton), metal foils, paper [15] etc.…”

“…When pressure is applied on such printed coatings, a change in resistance can be observed [6]. The strain sensing characteristics of the printed strain gauges can be tuned by varying the printing parameters [5].…”