Micro-spring force sensors using conductive photosensitive resin fabricated via two-photon polymerization

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Nanotechnology
• Sensor Technology

Background:

• Miniaturization of electronics drives demand for flexible, high-performance sensors.
• Developing micro/nano-scale flexible force sensors with high sensitivity, stability, and biocompatibility is challenging.
• Existing materials and fabrication methods have limitations for advanced sensor applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel conductive photosensitive resin for two-photon polymerization (TPP).
• To fabricate high-precision micro-spring force sensors (MSFS) with enhanced performance.
• To optimize fabrication parameters using machine learning and finite element analysis.

Main Methods:

• Developed a novel MXene-doped conductive photosensitive resin for TPP.
• Utilized a support vector machine model for optimizing resin polymerizability and TPP parameters (92.66% accuracy).
• Employed finite element analysis for MSFS structural design and performance simulation.

Main Results:

• Fabricated high-precision MSFS with a sensitivity coefficient of 5.65.
• Achieved high fabrication accuracy within ±50 nm.
• Demonstrated outstanding electromechanical performance, high precision, and long-term stability.

Conclusions:

• The novel MXene-doped resin and optimized TPP process enable advanced MSFS fabrication.
• Integration of machine learning and finite element analysis accelerates development of high-performance microsensors.
• This approach offers a scalable pathway for producing intelligent sensors for biomedical and soft robotic applications.