Abstract
Tunneling conductance among nanoparticle arrays is extremely sensitive to the spacing of nanoparticles and might be applied to fabricate ultra-sensitive sensors. Such sensors are of paramount significance for various application, such as automotive systems and consumer electronics. Here, we represent a sensitive pressure sensor which is composed of a piezoresistive strain transducer fabricated from closely spaced nanoparticle films deposited on a flexible membrane. Benefited from this unique quantum transport mechanism, the thermal noise of the sensor decreases significantly, providing the opportunity for our devices to serve as high-performance pressure sensors with an ultrahigh resolution as fine as about 0.5 Pa and a high sensitivity of 0.13 kPa−1. Moreover, our sensor with such an unprecedented response capability can be operated as a barometric altimeter with an altitude resolution of about 1 m. The outstanding behaviors of our devices make nanoparticle arrays for use as actuation materials for pressure measurement.
Highlights
Tunneling conductance among nanoparticle arrays is extremely sensitive to the spacing of nanoparticles and might be applied to fabricate ultra-sensitive sensors
These NPs formed a discontinuous film in a disordered manner on a highly deformable membrane such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with prepatterned interdigital electrodes (IDEs)
In summary, we have developed an efficient, low-cost approach for the fabrication of piezoresistive pressure sensors using dense Pd NP arrays deposited on flexible PET membranes, by using the hypersensitive response of the tunneling conductance of the closely spaced NP arrays to the tiny strain
Summary
Tunneling conductance among nanoparticle arrays is extremely sensitive to the spacing of nanoparticles and might be applied to fabricate ultra-sensitive sensors. We represent a sensitive pressure sensor which is composed of a piezoresistive strain transducer fabricated from closely spaced nanoparticle films deposited on a flexible membrane Benefited from this unique quantum transport mechanism, the thermal noise of the sensor decreases significantly, providing the opportunity for our devices to serve as high-performance pressure sensors with an ultrahigh resolution as fine as about 0.5 Pa and a high sensitivity of 0.13 kPa−1. Piezoresistive sensing is the most frequently used transduction mechanism in these pressure sensors[12], owing to advantages such as direct current input, high yield, simple structure and manufacturing process, low cost, scalable, as well as easy signal collection[13,14] These piezoresistive sensing elements undergo a change in their internal resistance when they are stressed, which breaks the ohmic contact or forms new defects in the materials. While the majority of the piezoresistive pressure-sensing devices today use doped silicon transducers wherein they undergo a change in their carrier mobility when they are stressed, our devices offer an alternative with potentially higher pressure resolution in terms of higher sensitivity, reduced thermal disturbance, and decreased power consumption with a larger resistance of about 10 MΩ
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