Smart Materials in Manufacturing 1 (2023) 100016

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Smart Materials in Manufacturing

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Highly stretchable strain sensors based on gold thin film reinforced with
carbon nanofibers
Mostafa Vahdani a, Sheyda Mirjalali a, Mounika Chowdary Karlapudi a, Sajad Abolpour Moshizi a,
Jincheol Kim a, Shujuan Huang a, Mohsen Asadnia a, Shuhua Peng b, Shuying Wu a, b, *
a
School of Engineering, Macquarie University Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia
b
School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Flexible piezoresistive sensors are often fabricated by depositing a conductive layer such as platinum, gold,
Piezoresistivity graphene thin films, or conductive nanoparticles onto an elastic substrate. However, due to the intrinsic brit-
Strain sensors tleness of the conductive materials, this method usually results in sensors with limited stretchability. Herein, we
Gold thin film
demonstrate a new technique to greatly increase the stretchability of piezoresistive strain sensors based on gold
Carbon nanofibers
(Au) thin films by being hybridized with carbon nanofibers (CNFs). Sensors based on Au thin film fail electrically
at a very small strain (~ 4.5%). In contrast, the sensors based on hybridized Au-CNFs thin film show a signifi-
cantly increased failure strain up to ~ 225%. Introducing one-dimensional CNFs enables a greatly enlarged
workable strain range by bridging and deflecting the microcracks formed in the Au thin film during stretching.
This can effectively prevent the formation of lengthy, channel-like straight cracks that cause electrical failure
under low strains. The high-performance sensors have shown great potential for use as wearable sensors for
motion detection, such as detecting joint bending. Moreover, the potential of the sensors in detecting airflow
similar to human respiratory airflow level has been demonstrated.

1. Introduction
Flexible and stretchable sensors have recently gained enormous
attention because of their potential in diverse applications such as elec-
tronic skins [1–4], health monitoring [5–8], smart textiles [9–11], smart
robots [12,13] and monitoring day-to-day activities [14,15]. Traditional
sensors are typically made of rigid materials such as semiconductors or
metals and have limited stretchability (typically <5% [16]). In contrast,
flexible and soft sensors are lightweight, comfortable to wear, and able to
conform to arbitrary surfaces like human bodies [17,18]. Elastic poly-
mers such as polyurethane (PU), polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and
Ecoflex have been widely used in fabricating flexible electronics due to
their stretchable and robust mechanical properties [19]. These polymers
are commonly combined with conductive nanomaterials, such as silver
and gold nanowires [20], carbon black [21], graphene [22], carbon
nanofibers [23], and carbon nanotubes [24] to develop flexible electro-
mechanical sensors.
Three key classes of strain sensors have been extensively studied
including piezoresistive, piezoelectric, and piezocapacitive. Among
these, piezoresistive sensors are well known for relatively simple read-
out systems [25]. The deposition of thin films of conductive materials
on elastic polymer substrates is one of the most commonly used methods
to develop flexible piezoresistive sensors [26]. However, this method
generally results in sensors with low stretchability due to the brittle na-
ture of most of the conductive materials. When subjected to stretching,
lengthy, channel-like straight cracks are created in the conductive thin
film, which leads to early electrical failure (typically at strains < 20%)
[27–32]. For example, Li et al. [33] developed highly sensitive flexible
piezoresistive sensors based on graphene woven fabrics deposited on
PDMS. High-density cracks were formed at small strains (< 10%) upon

* Corresponding author. School of Engineering, Macquarie University, North Ryde, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia.
E-mail address: shuying.wu@mq.edu.au (S. Wu).

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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smmf.2023.100016
Received 24 March 2023; Received in revised form 27 April 2023; Accepted 28 April 2023
Available online xxxx
2772-8102/© 2023 The Authors. Publishing services by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
M. Vahdani et al.
Fig. 1. (a) Schematic illustration of the fabrication process of the Au-CNFs/PDMS sensors; (b–c) Photos of the Au-CNFs/PDMS sensors, which indicate the sensors are
twistable and stretchable.
stretching, leading to significantly increased resistance (high sensitivity
with a gauge factor (GF) of ~ 103 under 2–6% strains and ~106 under
higher strains (7%–8%). Nevertheless, the cracks propagated quickly
upon increasing the strain, leading to the fracture of the graphene.
Therefore, the sensors exhibited limited stretchability (< 10% strain).
Similarly, sensors made of gold thin film deposited on PDMS reported by
Yang et al. [34] also demonstrated high sensitivity due to the cut-through
cracks (GFs of up to 200 (ε < 0.5%), 1000 (0.5% < ε < 0.7%), and more
than 5000 (0.7% < ε < 1%), which meanwhile resulted in low
stretchability.
Previous studies have demonstrated that stretchability is largely
dependent on the size (length, width) and density of microcracks formed
in the conductive thin films upon stretching [35–39]. Therefore, one
major strategy to enhance the stretchability of such sensors is to effec-
tively control the microcracking behavior of the brittle conductive thin
films. Different parameters have been found critical, including conduc-
tive thin film's thickness [40–42], its interaction/bonding with the sub-
strate [43–45], as well as the mechanical properties of the substrate
[46–48]. For instance, based on Li et al. [49], under tensile loading, the
microcracking behavior of Cr films on polyethylene terephthalate (PET)
substrates depended on Cr thickness. Three Cr film thicknesses of 15, 70,
and 140 nm were examined. It was found that the cracks began to form at
strains ranging from 0.6 to 1.9% and the thicker the Cr, the smaller strain
the crack started. Also, the cracks on the 15 nm Cr film were denser than
those on the 70 and 140 nm films. Moreover, Xiang et al. [45] found that
the failure strain of metal (Cu) thin films deposited on polyimide sub-
strate were dependent on their adhesion to the substrate. By delocalizing
deformation in the film, a well-bonded Cu films could withstand tensile
strains up to 10% without forming noticeable cracks and up to 30% at
which discontinuous microcracks were formed. On the other hand,
channel cracks were observed in the film at ~ 2% strain when it was
weakly bonded to the substrate. Amjadi et al. [32] demonstrated that the
microcracks in graphite thin films coated on elastomer substrate (Eco-
flex) could be controlled by treating the substrate with oxygen plasma
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Smart Materials in Manufacturing 1 (2023) 100016
and then stretching it with a controlled strain. The oxygen plasma
exposure made the top of the elastomer stiffer by forming oxidized
polymer layer. The exposure time could thus be used to control the
stiffness of the substrate and thereby the microcracks (length, width, and
density) formed in the graphite thin films, resulting in sensors with
different stretchability.
Herein, we present a new approach to developing highly stretchable
piezoresistive strain sensors based on Au and CNFs deposited on PDMS
substrate. Instead of directly depositing Au on the elastic PDMS substrate
which usually forms cut-through long and straight cracks that leads to
low failure strains (< 20%) [50], a layer of CNFs was spray-coated onto
the PDMS before depositing Au by thermal evaporation. The CNFs suc-
cessfully prevented the formation of long and straight microcracks.
Instead, shorter and deflected microcracks were formed. The electrical
failure of the conductive layer on PDMS was thus greatly delayed from
about 4.5% (for Au-PDMS) to 225% strain (for Au-CNFs/PDMS).
Therefore, the sensors have a much wider workable strain range. The
effects of Au film thickness and CNFs area density on sensor performance
were also examined in detail. These strain sensors are thin and flexible,
making them ideal for applications as wearable electronics for health and
motion detection. By using a wooden hand model, the capability of our
sensors in detecting joint movements such as finger and wrist joint
bending was demonstrated. Moreover, the sensors were found to be able
to be used as a flow sensor to measure airflow similar to human respi-
ratory airflow level.
2. Experimental section
2.1. Materials
Carbon nanofibers (CNFs, Pyrograf-III, grade PR-24-XT-HHT) were
purchased from Applied Sciences Inc. PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane)
elastomer kit including both base and curing agents (Sylgard 184) was
purchased from Dow Corning. Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) and
M. Vahdani et al.
Fig. 2. (a) Schematic diagram of the fabrication process of the flow sensor (U-shape), (b) Experimental setup for measuring sensor's responses to airflow.
polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, Mw
40 000) were purchased from Chem-
Supply and Sigma, respectively.
2.2. Sensor design and fabrication
The Au-CNFs/PDMS sensors were fabricated by the procedure illus-
trated in Fig. 1. CNFs were first spray-coated on a thin PDMS substrate (~
0.5 mm thickness). The CNFs/IPA dispersion (1 mg ml1) was prepared
by probe ultrasonicating CNFs in IPA for 1 h to create a stable dispersion
with assistance of 1 wt% PVP as the dispersion agent. It should be
mentioned that PDMS was plasma treated before coating by being
exposed to O2 plasma for 2 min. This O2 plasma treatment facilitated the
coating and enhanced the adhesion with conductive nanomaterials. The
spray-coating was conducted by using a Blackridge airbrush kit with a
0.3 mm nozzle at a pressure of 15–20 psi and a distance of 10 cm. The
areal density of CNFs deposited on the PDMS substrate was estimated to
be 0.5 mg cm2. In the next step, a thin layer of Au with different
thicknesses (30 nm and 60 nm) was coated onto the surface of the CNFs/
PDMS using a Thermal Evaporator System. Copper wires were then
connected to the two ends of the Au-CNFs/PDMS using a silver paste for
electric resistance measurement. After this, the obtained sensor (Au-
CNFs/PDMS) was encapsulated using another layer of PDMS (0.5 mm
thickness), which was then cured for 2 h at 60  C. The prepared sensor
exhibited excellent flexibility and stretchability as demonstrated in
Fig. 1b and c.
2.3. Characterizations
2.3.1. Morphology and microcracking behavior of the Au-CNFs/PDMS
sensors
Bright-Field Microscopy (CKX53, Olympus) and Scanning Electron
Microscopy (SEM, FEI Nova NanoSEM) were employed to investigate the
morphology and microcracking behavior of the sensors.
2.3.2. Piezoresistivity measurements of the Au-CNFs/PDMS sensors
Using a digital multimeter (Keysight E4980 AL), the electrical resis-
tance changes of samples subjected to tensile stretching were measured.
The samples were subjected to quasi-static tension and cyclic tensile
loading-unloading cycles using a custom-built linear stage. For cyclic
tensile tests, 5 cycles of varying peak-strains ranging from 1%, 5%, 10%,
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Smart Materials in Manufacturing 1 (2023) 100016
40%, 80%, and120% were applied at a constant speed of 1 mm/s. At least
three duplicate specimens were tested for the quasi-static tensile test to
understand the repeatability. The gauge factor (GF), indicator of the
piezoresistive sensitivity, was calculated by using linear regression to
analyze the relative resistance changes as a function of strain (ϵ), as
shown in the following:
ΔR=R0 ðR  R0 Þ=R0
GF ¼ ¼
ϵ ðL  L0 Þ=L0
where R and R0 stand for, respectively, resistance at a specific strain and
initial resistance, L0 and L are the sensor's initial length and instanta-
neous length, respectively.
To examine the durability of the Au-CNFs/PDMS sensor, 2500 tensile
loading-unloading cycles with a peak strain of 40% were applied. Strain
rate effects were studied by applying cyclic loading-unloading at
different velocities: 1, 4, 7, and 10 mm/s. The response time of the
sensors was tested by stretching the specimen to a strain of 40% at a
velocity of 10 mm/s.
2.3.3. Application demonstration
2.3.3.1. Airflow sensing monitoring. Fig. 2 illustrates the setup to inves-
tigate the sensor's capability of detecting airflow of similar level to that of
human respiratory airflow. The sensor was first cut into “U" shape and
fixed vertically by being embedded into a PDMS base. It is then posi-
tioned next to (1 mm distance between the sensor and the tube end) a
flexible tube which is connected to a Continuous Positive Airway Pres-
sure (CPAP) air generator capable of creating airflow that simulates
breathing. The tube has an internal diameter of 19.60 mm and the sen-
sor's top 5 mm (out of a total height of 7 mm) are exposed to the flowing
air. CPAP air generator can precisely control the time and flow with an
accuracy of 10 ms and 1.5 L min1, respectively (or  2.7% of the
reading). Three parameters such as set-point high (SPH), set-point low
(SPL), and period can be used to control the device. SPH can be altered to
set different flow rates while SPL is fixed at zero. The period means cycle
time, which was varied to investigate the sensor's response time. Each
cycle consisted of the time when the pump is on plus the time when it is
off (noted that the pump is on and off for half of the period). To amplify
the voltage output, the sensor was connected to a Wheatstone bridge
M. Vahdani et al. Smart Materials in Manufacturing 1 (2023) 100016

Fig. 3. SEM pictures of unstretched (a) CNFs/PDMS and (b) Au-CNFs/PDMS; (c) The plot of relative resistance change (ΔR/R0) vs strain under monotonic tension up
to strain where the sensor failed electrically; Optical microscopic images of (d) Au/PDMS, (e) Au-CNFs/PDMS, and (f) CNFs/PDMS under stretching (Note: Levels of
strain are mentioned on the images and stretching direction is horizontal); (g) Length and (h) width of the cracks formed in CNFs/PDMS, Au/PDMS, and Au-CNFs/
PDMS based on optical micrographs shown in (d–f); (i) SEM images of Au-CNFs/PDMS when stretching.

circuit. A unity gain SRS560 low-noise preamplifier was used to filter the
sensor output using a 3 Hz low-pass filter. The data were collected and
analysed by LabVIEW Signal Express software. Each experiment was
carried out three times to calculate the standard error.
2.3.3.2. Joint bending detection. The potential application of Au-CNFs/
PDMS sensor in detecting strains associated with human motions was
investigated by attaching the sensor onto different parts of a wooden
hand model (Fig. 6a and b). Sensors with the dimension of 10 mm
(length)  5 mm (width)  1 mm (thickness) were mounted to wrist and
index finger joints of a wooden hand model by a tape. The resistance
changes during bending the wrist and finger joints were recorded.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Microcracking and its influences on piezoresistive properties
The obtained thin film strain sensor is composed of an active sensing
layer made of Au-CNFs composite film encapsulated by two layers of
PDMS. The PDMS can protect the sensing layer from the surrounding
environment. Fig. 3a shows the even dispersion of CNFs over the PDMS
substrate. Once the Au layer was deposited, the CNFs were shown to be
totally covered (as seen in Fig. 3b).
When subjected to monotonic tensile strains, the resistance of the Au/
PDMS, CNFs/PDMS, and Au-CNFs/PDMS nanocomposites increased
continuously until they were electrically failed (resistance increases to
the level that exceeds the measurement capacity of the used digital

4
M. Vahdani et al. Smart Materials in Manufacturing 1 (2023) 100016

Fig. 4. (a) Effect of thickness of Au on the relative change of resistance (ΔR/R0) as a function of strain for Au-CNFs/PDMS sensors; (b) Sensitivity and (c) Stretchability
of the sensors with different Au thicknesses; (d) ΔR/R0 when subjected to stretching-releasing cycles for the strain sensors with different Au thicknesses.

multimeter (1 GΩ)), as shown in Fig. 3c. It was noted that the sensor failed electrically at a very low strain of ~ 4.5%. The GFs of the sensors
made of Au (Au/PDMS) showed very sharp increase in resistance when based on CNFs/PDMS and Au-CNFs/PDMS were determined to be ~ 1.1
subjected to stretching with a GF of ~ 155 270.8. However, the sensor and ~ 5.7, with a stretchability of ~ 150% and 225%, respectively. The

Fig. 5. Durability, frequency dependency, and response time of the sensor (t ¼ 60 nm): (a) Resistance change (ΔR/R0) under 2500 cycles of stretching-releasing (the
peak strain is 40%); (b) relative resistance change (ΔR/R0) when stretched-released at different velocities (the peak strain is 40%); (c) Response time of sensor as it
stretched to 40% strain at a velocity of 10 mm/s.

5
M. Vahdani et al.
Fig. 6. Application demonstration of the sensor: photo the wooden hand model with a sensor attached to a finger (a) and wrist joint (b); ΔR/R0 of the sensor attached
to the wrist joint which was bent at (c) 20 and (d) 45 ; ΔR/R0 of the sensor attached to the finger joint which was bent at (c) 45 and (d) 90 .
excellent linearity of resistance change as a function of strain and high
stretchability is believed due to the unique microcracking behavior of the
sensors. The structural changes in the conductive thin films of Au/PDMS,
CNFs/PDMS, and Au-CNFs/PDMS nanocomposites were observed by
using optical microscopy (Fig. 3d–f). The sensor made of Au only (Au-
PDMS) showed lengthy, channel-like straight cracks (Fig. 3d), which
disturbed electric conductance, causing remarkable increase in resistance
and eventually electrical failure at low strains. By introducing CNFs to Au
thin film, the coalition of tiny parallel cracks to larger ones was pro-
hibited, resulting in the formation of shorter, deflected, tortuous micro-
cracks, as indicated in Fig. 3e. A higher magnification SEM image in
Fig. 3i indicates that the CNFs bridged the cracks (reinforcing the Au thin
film and increasing the electrical failure resistance to strain). Therefore,
the electrical failure can be postponed to a much higher strain, up to
about 225% (Fig. 3c). The sensor made from CNFs only (Fig. 3f) exhibited
similar cracking behavior, in terms of crack length, to the sensors made of
Au-CNFs/PDMS. However, at the same strain, it displayed a smaller
crack, resulting in a lower sensitivity compared to the sensors made of
Au-CNFs/PDMS (Fig. 3e).
The microcrack dimensions were estimated from the optical micro-
scopic images and plotted in Fig. 3g and h. As the strain increased, the
crack length and width of all specimens increased. Additionally, at the
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Smart Materials in Manufacturing 1 (2023) 100016
same strain, the microcracks formed in the Au-CNFs/PDMS thin film are
considerably shorter and narrower than those in the Au/PDMS thin film.
For example, at a strain of 60%, the average microcrack length and width
for the Au-CNFs thin film are approximately 109.5 μm and 4.6 μm,
respectively, while those for the Au/PDMS film are around 283 μm and
5.5 μm, respectively. The crack length formed in CNFs/PDMS and Au-
CNFs/PDMS under the same strain were similar but the width was
slightly larger for Au-CNFs/PDMS. This disparity in microcrack di-
mensions accounts for the difference in their piezoresistivity.
3.2. Effects of Au thickness on the piezoresistivity of the Au-CNFs/PDMS
sensors
To study the effect of the thickness of Au coating on the sensing
performance, Au-CNFs/PDMS sensors coated with Au of two different
thicknesses (30 and 60 nm) were fabricated and compared with CNFs/
PDMS (no Au). Fig. 4a shows the resistance changes as a function of
quasi-static tensile strain up to failure. Based on Fig. 4a, the sensitivity
calculated by linear regression analysis and the corresponding stretch-
ability (defined as failure strain) are presented in Fig. 4b and c. The
sensitivity (GF) was determined to be 1.7 and 5.7 for sensors with 30 nm
and 60 nm thick Au, respectively. Furthermore, increasing the thickness
M. Vahdani et al.
Fig. 7. (a) Sensor response for different rates of airflow; (b) Response time; Sensor response for a constant airflow rate of 60 L min1 with different applied periods: (c)
200 ms. (d) 400 ms. (e) 600 ms; (f) Average of resistance change from peak-to-peak as a function of periods.
of Au layers results in an increase in stretchability (failure strain). The
sensor comprising 30 nm thick Au has a stretchability of 130% while that
based on 60 nm thick Au exhibits a stretchability of 225% (Fig. 4c). In
Fig. 4d, changes in resistance are demonstrated under cyclic loading-
unloading with peak strain values of 1%, 5%, 10%, 40%, 80%, and
120%. The sensor resistance increased gradually during stretching and
reduced during unloading. The stretching process creates microcracks
that increase the resistance, while releasing the stretching leads to the
closure of these microcracks and recovery of resistance to its initial value.
This indicates that the sensors have excellent durability, and the resis-
tance can be mostly restored to its original value when the strain is
released. Additionally, the sensors can detect small strain (1%) (Insert in
Fig. 4d), demonstrating their strong potential for monitoring at low strain
levels.
3.3. Au-CNFs/PDMS sensor durability and response time
Based on the results discussed above, the sensor made of 60 nm thick
Au, showing highest sensitivity with reasonably high stretchability
(225%) was selected to study the sensor's durability, response time, and
dependence on strain rate in this section. Fig. 5a presents the relative
resistance changes of the sensor when subjected to cyclic stretching-
releasing with a peak strain of 40% over 2500 cycles. It can be seen
that, although slight down-drift in electric signal was observed in the
initial ~ 50 cycles, the sensor outputs were overall stable without sig-
nificant changes, indicating excellent durability. Furthermore, the as-
developed sensor did not exhibit any apparent dependence on the
strain rate (Fig. 5b), suggesting that this sensor was capable of func-
tioning consistently when subjected to various deformation rates. In
addition, the sensor shows very quick response (Fig. 5c). The response
time was investigated by stretching the sensor quickly to 40% strain at a
velocity of 10 mm/s. The response time was estimated to be ~ 0.42 s,
comparable to strain sensors that have been previously reported [51].
Fast response time of strain sensors is essential to effectively track various
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Smart Materials in Manufacturing 1 (2023) 100016
human physiological signs and physical activities.
3.4. Application demonstration
3.4.1. Joint bending detection
To test the sensors' capacity in detecting human motions like joint
movements, the sensor with the optimal sensitivity (60 nm thickness of
Au) was chosen. The sensor was fixed to the wooden hand model (Fig. 6a
and b). When the wrist was bent at an angle of 20 and 45 , the maximum
relative resistance changes (ΔR/R0) were measured to be 23% and 60%
(Fig. 6c and d), respectively, indicating a strain of ~ 11% and 24% was
induced, respectively. The sensor exhibited high stability with no visual
damage noticed during bending cycles. Fig. 6e and f demonstrates the
sensor's ability to detect bending of a finger joint, with a larger increase
in resistance being noticed when the degree of bending is increased.
Strain was measured to be ~ 46% and ~ 22%, respectively, when the
finger was bent at angles of 90 and 45 based on the maximum ΔR/R0.
3.4.2. Au-CNFs/PDMS nanocomposite as an airflow sensor
Strain sensors have been developed for real-time respiration moni-
toring to assess the respiratory rate [52,53], tidal volume [54,55],
breathing frequency [56,57], and minute ventilation [58–61]. Breath can
be detected by monitoring minute ventilation and tidal volume. The
amount of air that is exhaled from the lungs in a minute is referred as
minute ventilation while the total amount of air that is inhaled and
exhaled when at rest is referred as the tidal volume. Airflow sensors that
can measure the airflow precisely have the potential in detecting
breathing patterns. Herein, we investigated the sensor's responses to
airflows with different rates. To do this, the sensor was fixed in front of
the cylinder (1 mm distance) which was connected to an airflow gener-
ator. The flow rate of the generated air can be precisely controlled from
20 to 80 L min1 with intervals of 5 L min1 and was purged to the sensor
with effective length of 5 mm. Fig. 7a displays the sensor output (relative
resistance changes) for five consecutive cycles as a function of time under
M. Vahdani et al.
five different airflow rates. It can be seen that the resistance increases
instantly when the air generator was turned on and then reached its
maximum where no drift in output over time was observed with a rela-
tively constant response. The sensor experienced bending deformation
when the airflow was applied across it, leading to the increase of resis-
tance which may be due to the opening of the microcracks in the Au-CNFs
thin film. When the airflow stabilised, the sensor maintained at a con-
stant bending position, as indicated by the constant ΔR/R0 value. After
the generator was turned off, the value decreased rapidly and eventually
returned to zero. The air generator's cycle was configured to have it
active for 1.5 s and inactive for 1.5 s. Therefore, the sensor had only 1.5 s
to react to the airflow that was produced. The reaction time and recovery
time for all the studied airflow rates can be estimated, as indicated in
Fig. 7b. With increasing the airflow rate from 20 to 8 L min1, the sensor's
reaction time also tended to increase from 0.23 to 0.52 s.
In Fig. 7c–e, the sensor's performance was evaluated under various
cycle periods. Each cycle consisted of the pump being turned on and off
for half of the period. The airflow rate was kept constant at 60 L min1,
while the cycle period varied from 0.2 s to 1 s. Fig. 7c–e illustrate the
electric outputs for cycle periods of 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 s. Based on Fig. 7c
and d, it can be observed that for shorter cycle periods, the peak-to-peak
resistance change was lower than the peak value shown in Fig. 7a (the
peak value for an airflow rate of 60 L min1 is 0.78). This is because the
PDMS, which was the primary load carrier, exhibits viscoelasticity and
does not have enough time to respond to airflow during such short pe-
riods. However, as the cycle period increased to 0.6 s or longer, the Au-
CNFs/PDMS had more time to respond, and the sensor bent to its
maximum angle under the specific airflow rate. As a result, the peak-to-
peak resistance change remained low at short cycle periods and
continued to increase until it reached a plateau (ΔR/R0 (%) ¼ 0.78) at
0.6 s and beyond, as shown in Fig. 7f.
4. Conclusion
In this work, a novel method was proposed to enhance the stretch-
ability of Au thin films on stretchable PDMS substrate to develop highly
flexible strain sensors. Typically, strain sensors based on Au thin film-on
PDMS face limitations in stretchability due to the formation of lengthy,
channel-like straight cracks, even at low strains, leading to early elec-
trical failure. To overcome this issue, CNFs were introduced, which
resulted in a significant improvement in the stretchability of the sensors
by bridging microcracks and preserving electric conductive networks.
Au-CNFs/PDMS strain sensors were fabricated by depositing Au of
different thicknesses (0, 30, and 60 nm) on CNFs coated on PDMS. The
sensor with 60 nm thickness of Au showed optimum performance, with a
gauge factor of ~ 5.7, a wide sensing range up to 225% strain, and high
linearity with an R2 value of 98%. Moreover, the sensors exhibited quick
response, excellent stability, even after 2500 cycles of stretching and
releasing. The developed sensors were also tested for their potential
applications, including measuring joint movements and detecting
airflow. However, it is worth noting that the present sensors show rela-
tively low sensitivity (maximum GF ~ 5.7) even though the stretchability
has been improved significantly. Therefore, future research should focus
on improving the sensor's sensitivity, which may be achieved by further
increasing the Au thickness or using different conductive materials as the
sensing layer, such as conducting polymers, hybrids of conducting
polymers with one-dimensional nanowires/nanotubes or zero-
dimensional nanoparticles.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgments
The author S.P. would also like to acknowledge the financial support
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Smart Materials in Manufacturing 1 (2023) 100016
from the ARC via the Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
(DE190100311).
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