Issue

Vol. 11 (2019)

Direct Patterning of Carbon Nanotube via Stamp Contact Printing Process for Stretchable and Sensitive Sensing Devices

https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-019-0323-8
Binghao Liang
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China
Zian Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China
Wenjun Chen
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China
Dongwei Lu
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China
Leilei Yang
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China
Rongliang Yang
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China
Hai Zhu
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Physics, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China
Zikang Tang
Institute of Applied Physics and Materials Engineering, University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau, People’s Republic of China
Xuchun Gui
State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, School of Electronics and Information Technology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, People’s Republic of China

Corresponding Author: Xuchun Gui

guixch@mail.sysu.edu.cn

Nano-Micro Letters, Vol. 11 (2019), Article Number: 92

Abstract

Flexible and wearable sensing devices have broad application prospects in bio-monitoring such as pulse measurement, motion detection and voice recognition. In recent years, many significant improvements had been made to enhance the sensor’s performance including sensitivity, flexibility and repeatability. However, it is still extremely complicated and difficult to prepare a patterned sensor directly on a flexible substrate. Herein, inspired by typography, a low-cost, environmentally friendly stamping method for the mass production of transparent conductive carbon nanotube (CNT) film is proposed. In this dry transfer strategy, a porous CNT block was used as both the seal and the ink; and Ecoflex film was served as an object substrate. Well-designed CNT patterns can be easily fabricated on the polymer substrate by engraving the target pattern on the CNT seal before the stamping process. Moreover, the CNT film can be directly used to fabricate ultrathin (300 μm) strain sensor. This strain sensor possesses high sensitivity with a gauge factor (GF) up to 9960 at 85% strain, high stretchability (> 200%) and repeatability (> 5000 cycles). It has been used to measure pulse signals and detect joint motion, suggesting promising application prospects in flexible and wearable electronic devices.


Highlights:


1 A dry transfer method for the mass production of transparent conductive carbon nanotube (CNT) films inspired by typography has been proposed.
2 The strain sensors based on the CNT films have high stretchability and repeatability (gauge factor up to 9960 at 85% strain).
3 These ultrathin strain sensors can detect human motion, sound, and pulse, suggesting promising application prospects in wearable devices.

Keywords

Carbon nanotube Strain sensor Dry transfer Stamp contact printing process
Liang, Binghao, Zian Zhang, Wenjun Chen, Dongwei Lu, Leilei Yang, Rongliang Yang, Hai Zhu, Zikang Tang, and Xuchun Gui. 2019. “Direct Patterning of Carbon Nanotube via Stamp Contact Printing Process for Stretchable and Sensitive Sensing Devices”. Nano-Micro Letters 11 (October):92. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-019-0323-8.
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