Soft, flexible pressure sensors for pressure monitoring under large hydrostatic pressure and harsh ocean environments
Soft, flexible pressure sensors for pressure monitoring under large hydrostatic pressure and harsh ocean environments
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DOI：
10.1039/d3sm00563a
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发表时间：
2023-06-24
期刊：
影响因子：
3.4
通讯作者：
Wang, Xueju
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Li, Yi;Villada, Andres;Wang, Xueju
传统的刚性海洋压力传感器通常需要防止庞大的压力室和复杂的密封，以在巨大的静水压力和恶劣的海洋环境中生存下来。在这里，我们推出了柔软、灵活的压力传感器，它可以消除这种需求，在模拟海洋的环境中测量大范围的静液压力(0.1兆帕到15兆帕)，实现小尺寸、高灵活性和潜在的低功耗。传感器由光刻图案化的金薄膜(100 nm厚)制成，封装有柔软的对二甲苯C膜，并在可控的压力和温度条件下在定制的压力容器中进行测试。以矩形压力传感器为例，发现随着静水压力从0.1 Mpa增加到15 Mpa，传感器的电阻呈线性减小。有限元分析(FEA)揭示了压力传感器在高达15 Mpa的静水压力下的应变分布。还研究了几何形状对传感器性能的影响，结果表明，径向对称型压力传感器(如圆形和钉形)在大静水压力下具有更均匀的应变分布，因此具有潜在的压力测量范围。所有几何形状的压力传感器在15次循环测试中表现出高度的一致性和可以忽略的滞后。此外，传感器表现出极佳的灵活性，可在10兆帕的静水压力下可靠工作长达70天。开发的软压力传感器有望与许多平台集成，包括动物标签、潜水员设备和软水下机器人。
Traditional rigid ocean pressure sensors typically require protection from bulky pressure chambers and complex seals to survive the large hydrostatic pressure and harsh ocean environment. Here, we introduce soft, flexible pressure sensors that can eliminate such a need and measure a wide range of hydrostatic pressures (0.1 MPa to 15 MPa) in environments that mimic the ocean, achieving small size, high flexibility, and potentially low power consumption. The sensors are fabricated from lithographically patterned gold thin films (100 nm thick) encapsulated with a soft Parylene C film and tested in a customized pressure vessel under well-controlled pressure and temperature conditions. Using a rectangular pressure sensor as an example, the resistance of the sensor is found to decrease linearly with the increase of the hydrostatic pressure from 0.1 MPa to 15 MPa. Finite element analysis (FEA) reveals the strain distributions in the pressure sensor under hydrostatic pressures of up to 15 MPa. The effect of geometry on sensor performance is also studied, and radially symmetric pressure sensors (like circular and spike-shaped) are shown to have more uniform strain distributions under large hydrostatic pressures and, therefore, have a potentially enhanced pressure measurement range. Pressure sensors of all geometries show high consistency and negligible hysteresis over 15 cyclic tests. In addition, the sensors exhibit excellent flexibility and operate reliably under a hydrostatic pressure of 10 MPa for up to 70 days. The developed soft pressure sensors are promising for integration with many platforms including animal tags, diver equipment, and soft underwater robotics.