Fabrication of the piezoresistive sensor using the continuous laser-induced nanostructure growth for structural health monitoring

• Published in: Carbon (New York) 2019-11, Vol.152, p.376-387
• Main Authors: Deka, Biplab K., Hazarika, Ankita, Kim, Jisoo, Jeong, Hoon Eui, Park, Young-Bin, Park, Hyung Wook
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Activation; Aerospace vehicles; Aramid fibers; Automobiles; Carbon fibers; Control equipment; Control methods; Health care; Kevlar (trademark); Laser beam; Laser beams; Lasers; Mechanical properties; Morphology; Motion control; Nanorods; Nanostructure; Nanotubes; Nanowires; Polymer electrolyte; Pulsed lasers; Sensors; Separators; Stress sensor; Structural health monitoring; Supercapacitor; Supercapacitors; Woven carbon fiber
• ISSN: 0008-6223; 1873-3891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2019.06.015

The laser-induced synthesis of nanostructures provides an innovative and unique way to shorten the overall processing time in comparison to traditional methods, while allowing precise control of the growth. This is the novel research to report continuous laser beam-assisted uniform growth of aligned nanowires, nanorods and nanotubes on woven carbon fibers (WCF) within a short period of time. The morphologies of the nanostructures were finely controlled by tuning the laser power, beam speed and exposure time. We compared the nanowire/nanorod growth patterns to those obtained with pulsed laser processed growth. The nanostructured-WCF was then used as an electrode and a woven Kevlar fiber (WKF) sheet as a separator for the fabrication of supercapacitor-type sensors. The supercapacitor displays excellent electrochemical and mechanical performance with outstanding multifunctionality. The self-energized supercapacitor exhibits high sensitivity with good cyclic stability. The device functions very well, with few errors, under various environmental conditions. We believe that our supercapacitor-type sensor will be extremely beneficial for the detection of structural problems in bridges, buildings, aerospace vehicles and automobiles, and facilitate the precise motion control of different types of instruments. [Display omitted] •High stress sensitive supercapacitor was developed by laser grown ZnO-WCF electrode.•Excellent energy (55.42 Wh kg−1) and power density (38.15 W kg−1) were recorded.•Retained 91.3% of capacitance after 3000 consecutive charge-discharge cycles.•The device also exhibits high strength (381.81 MPa) and modulus (29.24 GPa).•Avail impressive sensitivity (GF ≈ 181) and high endurance to different environment.