Polydimethylsiloxane and polyisoprene-based graphene composites for strain-sensing

Abstract

In this paper, different composite materials have been developed and characterized for different applications in the health science field and as optoelectromechanical sensors. In this work, the authors have focused on two different types of composite materials. The first one having a matrix of polyisoprene (main component of natural rubber band) and the other with a matrix of polydimethylsiloxane, which is a biocompatible elastomer. Three different two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, MoS2, and WS2 have been used as fillers in this study. In order to develop these composite materials, the authors used a solvent based exfoliation-processing technique in order to reduce the size of the tactoids of the 2D materials, to later on implement them into the different matrixes. N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone has been our selected solvent for the exfoliation process since it has been reported as one of the most effective solvents in the exfoliation process. Using some designed features, the authors were able to characterize the electrical properties of the composites as a function of strain or deformation, which the authors report on in more detail here.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Mar 31, 2017
Source ID
10.1116/1.4979603

Entities

People

  • Anupama B. Kaul
  • Jorge A. Catalán

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • University of Texas System
  • University of Texas at El Paso

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Materials science

Readers

  • Nanocomposite Materials Science
  • Polymer Science and Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics
  • Microelectronics - Graphene