Screen-printed capacitive pressure sensors with high sensitivity and accuracy on flexible substrates. (1st September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Albrecht, Andreas; Salmerón, José F; Moreno-Cruz, Fernando; Becherer, Markus; Lugli, Paolo; Cheng, Gordon; Rivadeneyra, Almudena
• Is Part Of: Flexible and printed electronics. Volume 7:Number 3(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-09-01
• Subjects: capacitive sensor -- flexible substrate -- force sensor -- PDMS -- printed electronics; Flexible electronics -- Periodicals; Printed electronics -- Periodicals; Flexible electronics; Printed electronics; Electronic journals; Periodicals; 621.381
• DOI: 10.1088/2058-8585/ac812d
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2058-8585

Abstract

Abstract: Printable elastic conductors promise large-area stretchable sensor/actuator networks for healthcare, wearables and robotics, among other areas. Force pressure sensors are one of their most attractive applications, although their large-area integration has been limited by difficulties in their processability or bendability and their use by their insufficient sensitivity or stability. In this work, we present a flexible screen-printed capacitive pressure sensor, able to be modularly integrated in large-area systems thanks to the substrate flexibility, bending within itself capability and not only at its intersections, and cuttability, allowing a range of modifications in size and shape for complex structures. We built the sensors with a microstructured dielectric, whose hill radii were tuned (between 125 and 375 µ m) until obtaining a measurement range of five orders of magnitude, with a logarithm sensitivity above 20% dB −1 at the maximum pressure peak of 750 kPa and of 80% kPa −1 at the lowest test value of 0.5 kPa. These results went along completely with the theoretical model that we also developed. Besides, while smaller pillars showed a significant hysteresis for decreasing pressures, we observed how large hills performed with a small hysteresis of down to 3%, way ahead of the published sensors to the best of our knowledge.