Self-Powered Pressure Sensor with fully encapsulated 3D printed wavy substrate and highly-aligned piezoelectric...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Near-field electrospinning (NFES) enables precise deposition of aligned micro/nano fibers (NMFs).
• Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is a piezoelectric polymer with potential for energy harvesting.
• Integrating NMFs with tailored substrates is crucial for advanced device fabrication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel integration of 3D architectures of NFES electrospun PVDF NMFs with 3D printed substrates.
• To develop wavy-substrate self-powered sensors (WSS) with enhanced piezoelectric output.
• To explore applications in self-powered sensors for foot pressure measurement, human motion monitoring, and power generation.

Main Methods:

• Additive manufacturing of a 3D printed flexible, sinusoidal wavy substrate.
• Metallization of the substrate.
• NFES electrospinning of PVDF NMFs directly onto the 3D topology in a direct-write and in-situ poled manner.

Main Results:

• Successful fabrication of a 3D wavy-substrate architecture with integrated PVDF NMFs.
• The 3D architecture significantly enhances piezoelectric output compared to 2D structures.
• Demonstrated functionality in self-powered sensor applications including foot pressure measurement, motion monitoring, and finger-induced power generation.

Conclusions:

• The proposed technique advances electrospinning for constructing 3D structures.
• The wavy-substrate self-powered sensor architecture shows great promise for biomedical and wearable electronics.
• This work highlights a new pathway for developing efficient piezoelectric energy harvesters and sensors.