Flexible impedance and capacitive tensile load Sensor based on CNT composite

Abstract

In this paper, the fabrication and investigation of flexible impedance and capacitive tensile load sensors based on carbon nanotube (CNT) composite are reported. On thin rubber substrates, CNTs are deposited from suspension in water and pressed at elevated temperature. It is found that the fabricated load cells are highly sensitive to the applied mechanical force with good repeatability. The increase in impedance of the cells is observed to be 2.0 times while the decrease in the capacitance is found to be 2.1 times as applied force increases up to 0.3 N. The average impedance and capacitive sensitivity of the cell are equal to 3.4 N-1 and 1.8 N-1, respectively. Experimental results are compared with the simulated values, and they show that they are in reasonable agreement with each other. 2016 Chinese Physical Society and IOP Publishing Ltd.