State Key Laboratory of ASIC and System, Shanghai Institute of Intelligent Electronics & Systems, School of Microelectronics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
State Key Laboratory of High Performance Ceramics and Superfine Microstructure, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1295 Dingxi Road, Shanghai 200050, China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Mar 25;12(12):14136-14144. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b23110. Epub 2020 Mar 12.
Flexible pressure sensing is required for the excellent sensing performance and dexterous manipulation of the measured objects in their potential applications. Particularly, the ability to measure and discriminate the direction of force, contact surface, and contact location in real time is crucial for robotics with tactile feedback. Herein, a three-dimensional elastic porous carbon nanotube (CNT) sponge is synthesized by chemical vapor deposition, which is successfully applied in the piezoresistive sensor. scanning electron microscopy study intuitively illustrates the characteristics that the microfibers of the CNT sponge distort and contact with each other under an external force. As a result, new conductive paths are created at the contact points between the CNT microfibers, which provides a basic sensing principle for a piezoresistive sensor. The CNT sponge-based sensor has an ultrahigh sensitivity in a wide pressure range (0-4 kPa for 4015.8 kPa), a rapid response time of 120 ms, and excellent durability over 5000 cycles. Moreover, a finlike flexible double-sided electronic skin (e-skin) is fabricated by a simple method to achieve force direction detection, which has potential applications in intelligent wearable devices and human-machine interaction.
在潜在应用中，为了获得出色的传感性能和对被测量物体的灵巧操作，需要灵活的压力感应。特别是，对于具有触觉反馈的机器人来说，实时测量和区分力的方向、接触面和接触位置的能力至关重要。本文通过化学气相沉积法合成了一种三维弹性多孔碳纳米管 (CNT) 海绵，成功地将其应用于压阻式传感器中。扫描电子显微镜研究直观地说明了 CNT 海绵的微纤维在外力作用下变形并相互接触的特点。结果，在 CNT 微纤维的接触点处形成了新的导电路径，这为压阻式传感器提供了基本的传感原理。基于 CNT 海绵的传感器在很宽的压力范围内（0-4 kPa 对应 4015.8 kPa）具有超高的灵敏度，响应时间快至 120 ms，并且在 5000 次循环后仍具有出色的耐用性。此外，通过一种简单的方法制备了具有翼状灵活双面电子皮肤 (e-skin)，实现了力的方向检测，这在智能可穿戴设备和人机交互中有潜在的应用。
