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Chem. C, 2020, DOI: 10.1039/D0TC00491J.
Volume 6
Number 5
7 February 2018
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Journal of Materials Chemistry C Accepted Manuscript

ARTICLE

High-Performance Capacitive Strain Sensors with Highly

Received 00th January 20xx,
Accepted 00th January 20xx
DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x
Published on 15 March 2020. Downloaded on 3/17/2020 12:16:01 AM.
Stretchable Vertical Graphene Electrodes
Caihao Deng,a Linfeng Lan,*a Penghui He,a Chunchun Ding,a Baozhong Chen,a Wei Zheng,*b Xin
Zhao,*b,c Wangshou Chen,c Xizhou Zhong,c Min Li,d Hong Tao,d Junbiao Peng,a and Yong Caoa
Stretchable/wearable capacitive strain sensors are crucial for E-skins to detect physical and physiological signals. However,

the large-size, undamaged uniform electrodes with high stretchability by simple preparation process is still a challenge. In
this paper, a capacitive strain sensor based on stretchable vertical graphene (VGr) electrodes are fabricated using a simple
and large-size scatheless chemical peeling (CP) method. The maximum stretch of the sensor is ~80% with a gauge factor of
around 0.97. Furthermore, it exhibits a unique stress direction recognizing ability, making it possible to convert digital codes,
such as the Morse Code. It is found that the high stretchability of VGr stems from zigzag cracks and bridging effect of
branched VGr nanowalls.

much higher stretchability, because the cracks formed in the bottom

Introduction
Stretchable electrode skins (E-skins) have been widely applied in
wearable healthcare devices, robots and biomimetic prosthetics1-5.
As the key part of E-skins, strain sensors, such as piezoresistive strain
sensors6-27 and capacitive strain sensors28-33, have drawn increasing
research attention. Although piezoresistive strain sensors offer a
better gauge factor (GF) than capacitive strain sensors3, most of
them exhibit a nonlinear response6-10, hysteresis effect11-13, and
poor durability and stability9, 11, 12, 14-19. The stability of the
piezoresistive strain sensors can be improved by designing special
structures like net structure20-22, laminated structure23-25 and fibre
structure8, 26, 27. Compared to these methods, employing capacitive
structure is a relatively simple and effective way to improve the
stability34-39. In capacitive strain sensors, the spacing between the
two electrodes of the capacitor changes due to the elastic
deformation of the elastomer dielectric layer with strain, leading to
the change of capacitance. Meanwhile, the elastic deformation can
be fully recovered, so the change of capacitance is stable. Therefore,
the device with capacitive structure can weaken the influence of
electrode instability during stretching. In capacitive strain sensors,
Spray-coating Ag nanowires or carbon nanotube (CNT) networks are
most commonly used stretchable electrodes, but the uniformity of
Ag nanowires and CNT networks is poor3. Some groups employ two-
dimensional graphene as the stretchable electrodes, but the
stretchability is of graphene is low40. Compared to traditional
graphene, vertical graphene (VGr), which is composed of a bottom
graphitic base layer and branched vertical graphene nanowalls, has
a. State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China
University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
b. WM Research Institute, College William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187, USA.
c. Yick Xin Technology Development Co., Ltd, Shenzhen 518052, China
d. Guangzhou New Vision Optoelectronic Co., Ltd., Guangzhou 510530, China.
graphitic base layer during stretching are bridged by the branched
vertical graphene nanowalls11, 41, 42. In our previous studies, we have
demonstrated a piezoresistive strain sensor based on VGr by an
ultrasonic peeling (UP) method, but it cannot distinguish the stress
direction41.
In this work, we demonstrate a capacitive strain sensor with stress
direction recognition ability based on VGr by a chemical peeling (CP)
method (Fig.1a). The maximum stretch is 80 %, and the fitting GF of
capacitive strain sensor is around 0.9681, which is approaching to the
theoretical limit and better than most of the capacitive strain sensors
based on other kind of stretchable electrode29, 33, 43. Furthermore, it
exhibits a unique stress direction recognizing ability.
Experimental
Fabrication of VGr
VGr films were grown on Ni-coated Si wafers with a radio frequency
plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (RF-PECVD) system. The
detailed VGr fabrication process is the same as that reported
previously41.
Fabrication of Stretchable Electrode
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and curing agent (Sylgard 184, Dow
Corning) were mixed by 10:1 (weight ratio). The mixture was stirred
for 5 min, and then degassed in vacuum for 10 min. After that, the
mixture was poured onto the surface of the VGr/wafer slowly to
cover the whole VGr/wafer, which was then put into a vacuum
chamber for 30 min to make the PDMS permeate into the gaps of
VGr completely. Then, it was cured at 60 °C for 2 hours. Finally, the
PDMS/VGr/wafer was put into 1 M FeCl3 (Reagent grade, 97%,
Sigma-Aldrich) aqueous solution, until the PDMS/VGr layer were
totally peeled from the wafer.

Electronic Supplementary Information (ESI) available: [details of any supplementary

Fabrication of Capacitive Strain Sensor
information available should be included here]. See DOI: 10.1039/x0xx00000x

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 Published on 15 March 2020. Downloaded on 3/17/2020 12:16:01 AM.
Journal of Materials Chemistry C
DOI: 10.1039/D0TC00491J
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Journal of Materials Chemistry C
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Journal of Materials Chemistry C Accepted Manuscript

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Journal of Materials Chemistry C
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Journal Name
Key Project of Guangzhou Science and Technology Plan (Grant
No. 201904020034), the Industrial Technology Research and
Development Funds for Science and Technology Program of
Guangzhou (Grant No. 20182020036), the Zhujiang new science
star project (Grant No. 201806010090).
Author contributions
C.H.D. and L.F.L. presented the idea and designed the experiment.
W.Z., X.Z., W.S.C. and X.Z.Z. prepared VGr. C.H.D., C.C.D. and B.Z.C.
fabricated the devices and gathered the experiment data. C.H.D. and
L.F.L. analysed the electrical characteristics. C.H.D., L.F.L. and W.Z.
wrote this manuscript. P.H.H., M.L., H.T., J.B.C. and Y.C. given
important advice to experiment and manuscript. All authors
participated in interpretation of the results and manuscript
Published on 15 March 2020. Downloaded on 3/17/2020 12:16:01 AM.
preparation.
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