Flexible Zinc Oxide Nanowire Array/Graphene Nanohybrid for High-Sensitivity Strain Detection

A fully flexible strain sensor consisting of vertically aligned ZnO nanowires on graphene transferred on polyethylene terephthalate with prefabricated Au/Ti electrodes (ZnO-VANWs/Gr)/PET) has been obtained. The ZnO-VANWs were grown in solution using a seedless hydrothermal process and are single-cry...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS omega 2020-10, Vol.5 (42), p.27359-27367
Main Authors: Panth, Mohan, Cook, Brent, Alamri, Mohammed, Ewing, Dan, Wilson, Amy, Wu, Judy Z
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical vapor deposition
flexible strain sensor
graphene
hydrothermal growth
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Nanowires
Oxides
PET
piezoelectric gating
Piezoelectrics
Sensors
zinc oxide nanowires
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Summary:A fully flexible strain sensor consisting of vertically aligned ZnO nanowires on graphene transferred on polyethylene terephthalate with prefabricated Au/Ti electrodes (ZnO-VANWs/Gr)/PET) has been obtained. The ZnO-VANWs were grown in solution using a seedless hydrothermal process and are single-crystalline of (0001) orientation that provides optimal piezoelectric gating on graphene when deformed mechanically. The change of the graphene channel conductance under such a piezoelectric gating through transduction of the mechanical deformation on the ZnO-VANWs/Gr was used to detect the strain induced by the deformation. Under applied normal forces of 0.30, 0.50, and 0.70 N in a dynamic manner, the ZnO-VANWs/Gr/PET strain sensors exhibited a high response and response times of ∼0.20 s to both force on and off were achieved. Under mechanical bending curvatures of 0.18, 0.23, 0.37, and 0.45 cm–1, high sensitivity of the gauge factors up to ∼248 and response times of 0.20 s/0.20 s (rise/fall) were achieved on the ZnO-VANWs/Gr/PET strain sensors. Moreover, the response changes polarity when the directions of bending alters between up and down, corresponding to the polarity change of the space charge on the ZnO-VANWs/Gr interface as a consequence of the compressive and tensile strains along the ZnO-VANWs. This result shows that the low-cost and scalable ZnO-VANWs/Gr/PET strain sensors are promising for applications in stress/strain monitoring, wearable electronics, and touch screens.
ISSN:2470-1343
2470-1343
DOI:10.1021/acsomega.0c03683