Carbon-Based Nanomaterials Thin Film Deposited on a Flexible Substrate for Strain Sensing Application

Hybrid nanomaterial film consisting of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) were deposited on a highly flexible polyimide (PI) substrate using spray gun. The hybridization between 2-D GNP and 1-D MWCNT reduces stacking among the nanomaterials and produces a thin film with a porous structure. Carbon-based nanomaterials of MWCNT and GNP with high electrical conductivity can be employed to detect the deformation and damage for structural health monitoring. The strain sensing capability of carbon-based hybrid nanomaterial film was evaluated by its piezoresistive behavior, which correlates the change of electrical resistance with the applied strain through a tensile test. The effects of weight ratio between MWCNT and GNP and the total amount of hybrid nanomaterials on the strain sensitivity of the nanomaterial thin film were investigated. Experimental results showed that both the electrical conductivity and strain sensitivity of the hybrid nanomaterial film increased with the increase of the GNP contents. The gauge factor used to characterize the strain sensitivity of the nanomaterial film increased from 7.75 to 24 as the GNP weight ratio increased from 0 wt.% to 100 wt.%. In this work, a simple, low cost, and easy to implement deposition process was proposed to prepare a highly flexible nanomaterial film. A high strain sensitivity with gauge factor of 24 was achieved for the nanomaterial thin film.