Highly sensitive piezoresistive graphene-based stretchable composites for sensing applications

Abstract

Nanocarbonaceous materials with specific geometries and physicochemical properties allow the development of high-performance polymer-based smart composite materials. Among them, chemical treatments of graphene allow tailoring its electrical conductivity and, therefore, tuning functional response of materials for sensing applications. Polymer-based nanocomposites have been developed from styrene–ethylene–butylene–styrene (SEBS), a high deformation thermoplastic elastomer, and different graphene-based fillers, including graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and graphene nanoplatelets (G-NPLs). It is shown that the electrical conductivity shows a percolation threshold around 2 wt % for GO and rGO, remaining nearly independent of the filler content for G-NPL filler contents up to 6 wt %. Furthermore, GO/SEBS and rGO/SEBS composites show high piezoresistive sensibility with gauge factors ranging from 15 up to 120 for strains up to 10%. Thus, GO/SEBS and rGO/SEBS composites can represent a new generation of materials for strain sensor applications, as demonstrated in their implementation in a hand glove prototype with finger movement monitoring.