Integration and attachment of water-resilient soft sensors and electronics
Abstract
Diverse Naval applications such as underwater vehicles, environmental monitoring, and wearable devices require robust sensors and electronics. For underwater applications, traditional sensors and electronics composed of rigid materials often need rigid pressure chambers to survive water contamination and the hydrostatic pressure present underwater. This adds bulk, complexity, and limits functionality. An emerging and different approach is to utilize soft electronics which hold the promise to survive without external rigidpressure chambers due to their inherent waterproof nature and incompressibility. These attributes can enhance conformability, flexibility, and stretchability to enable new generations of robust underwater electronics, sensors, and robots. Although soft materials hold strong potential for water-resilient sensors and electronics, strategies for complex circuitry with robust integration to rigidchips and subsequent attachment to Naval relevant materials and surfaces are lacking. This project aims to develop soft 3D electronic architectures using gallium-based liquid metal polymer composites and tough adhesives to create and integrate multilayered soft sensors and hybrid circuits. This will be achieved by developing multilayer soft circuits through a novel directed assembly fabrication process to create programmed in-plane and thru-plane electrical integration to enhance the complexity and functionality of soft circuitry. These systems will then be robustly integrated with rigid electronic components and onto relevant surfaces and fabrics through conductive adhesives and surface functionalization techniques. These advances will be applied to construct and evaluate a conformal hydrophone array for underwater acoustic sensing. This project will provide new knowledge and capabilities for the development of robust soft sensors and electronics that can withstand real-world underwater environments. This will have applications in environmental monitoring, autonomous underwater vehicles, and wearable devices for diverse Naval operations.Approved for Public Release
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Nov 08, 2024
- Source ID
- N000142412504
Entities
People
- Michael D. Bartlett
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- Virginia Tech