Nanomaterials are small structures that have at least one dimension less than ~100 nanometers. Depending on the number of
dimensions that are not confined to the nanoscale range, nanomaterials can be classified into 0D, 1D and 2D types. Due to their small
sizes, nanoparticles possess exceptional physical and chemical properties which opens a unique possibility for the next generation of
strain sensors that are cheap, multifunctional, high sensitivity and reliability. Over the years, thanks to the development of new
nanomaterials and the printing technologies, a number of printing techniques have been developed to fabricate a wide range of electronic
devices on diverse substrates. Nanomaterials based thin film devices can be readily patterned and fabricated in a variety of ways,
including printing, spraying and laser direct writing. In this work, we review the piezoresistivity of nanomaterials of different
categories and study various printing approaches to utilize their excellent properties in the fabrication of scalable and printable thin
film strain gauges. CNT-AgNP composite thin films were fabricated using a solution based screen printing process. By controlling the
concentration ratio of CNTs to AgNPs in the nanocomposites and the supporting substrates, we were able to engineer the crack formation to
achieve stable and high sensitivity sensors. The crack formation in the composite films lead to piezoresistive sensors with high GFs up to
221.2. Also, with a simple, low cost, and easy to scale up fabrication process they may find use as an alternative to traditional strain
sensors. By using computer controlled spray coating system, we can achieve uniform and high quality CNTs thin films for the fabrication of
strain sensors and transparent / flexible electrodes. A simple diazonium salt treatment of the pristine SWCNT thin film has been
identified to be efficient in greatly enhancing the piezoresistive sensitivity of SWCNT thin film based piezoresistive sensors. The
coupled mechanical stretching and Raman band shift characterization provides strong evidence to support this point of view. The same
approach should be applicable to other types of carbon based strain sensors for improving their sensitivity. The direct laser writing
(DLW) method has been used for producing flexible piezoresistive sensor and sensor arrays on polyimide film substrates. The effect of CO2
laser irradiation conditions on the morphology, chemical composition and piezoresistivity of the formed graphitic line features were
systematically studied to establish the related processing-structure-property relationship. The DLW generated sensors have been
demonstrated for their use as strain gauges for structural health monitoring of polymeric composites, and as flexible and wearable sensors
of gesture recognition for human-machine interactions. The versatility of the DLW technique demonstrated in this work can be highly
valuable in different industrial sectors for developing customized flexible electronics. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester 2016. / October 25, 2016. / Includes bibliographical references. / Zhibin Yu, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Tao (Ted) Liu, Professor Co-Directing
Dissertation; Jim P. Zheng, University Representative; Changchun (Chad) Zeng, Committee Member; Mei Zhang, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_405637 |
| Contributors | Tran, Hoang Phong (authoraut), Yu, Zhibin (professor co-directing dissertation), Liu, Tao (Ted), 1969- (professor co-directing dissertation), Zheng, Jianping P. (university representative), Zeng, Changchun (Chad) (committee member), Zhang, Mei (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Engineering (degree granting college), Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (degree granting departmentdgg) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (126 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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