A pressure-induced bending sensitive capacitor based on an elastomer-free, extremely thin transparent conductor

Sungwoo Jun, Chul Jong Han, Youngmin Kim, Byeong Kwon Ju, Jong Woong Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

An elastomer-free, extremely thin (less than 2 μm), and highly transparent (higher than 95%) pressure-sensitive capacitor is successfully fabricated using a combination of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) and a percolated network of silver nanowires (AgNWs). The strong affinity of PVB to the polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) layer, which capped the AgNWs, stabilizes the sensor mechanically to an extent that it can resist 100 000 cycles of bending under a curvature radius of 200 μm. The strong hydrogen bonding interactions and entanglement of PVB chains make the cross-linked PVB freestanding and very strong, facilitating the reduction of the thickness to less than 2 μm. The capacitance is formed on an AgNW tandem compound electrode pattern by the fringing effect, which increases with an increase in the pressure-induced bending applied to the surface of the sensor. The sensitivity is three times higher than that of an elastomeric pressure sensor with the same sensor design. The use of the AgNW/PVB sensor as a wearable acupressure sensor and a transparent motion detector is successfully demonstrated.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3221-3229
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Materials Chemistry A
Volume5
Issue number7
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Global Excellent Technology Innovation of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning, granted financial resource from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Republic of Korea (No. 20165020301170). This work was also supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (MSIP: Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning) (No. 2016M3A7B4910).

Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Society of Chemistry.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
  • General Materials Science

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