Hydrodynamic Sensing Based on Surface-Modified Flexible Nanocomposite Film**Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation under Grant No 61434001 and 61574083, the National Basic Research Program of China under Grant No 2015CB352100, the National Key Project of Science and Technology under Grant No 2011ZX02403-002, and the Special Fund for Agroscientic Research in the Public Interest of China under Grant No 201303107.

Abstract

A highly sensitive sensor with piezoresistive nanocomposite material assembled in a flexible composite film is designed and tested for hydrodynamic sensing. Within the device, two nanocomposite films with micrometer scale modified small bumps on the surface are arranged together face-to-face by the interlocking mechanism. These structures are verified to have full-scale piezoresistive high sensitivities which are very appropriate for underwater sensing. Obvious output signals can be observed from the device subjected to the hydroacoustic dipole (vibrating sphere) with exciting frequency from 10Hz to 40Hz. A spectral peak can be seen in the Fourier analysis of the output signal at the corresponding frequency.