Shear and Pressure Sensor Based on Flexible Pillar-Structured Carbon Nanocomposites

Abstract

Shear displacement and pressure play an important role in the medical field and robotics. To monitor these stimuli using a single sensor has long been a significant challenge. Therefore, we present a novel means of transducing shear displacement and pressure change with a flexible nanocomposite sensor. The presented sensor consists of an array of micron-scale cylindrical pillars standing on a flat substrate, which is composed of carbon nanotubes(CNTs) and PDMS. The sensing mechanism is based on changing CNT network in pillar and flat structure under shear and pressure. When a shear displacement change occurs in the pillar array, which transfers shear and pressure to flat structure in the sample, the CNT network in the sample is changed due to bending of the pillars. Pressure also can be measured by compressing the flat structure, which results in densification of CNT network. Measurable range in shear and pressure can be tuned by sample size and number of pillars for a specific application