Multisensory graphene-skin for harsh-environment applications

Sohail F Shaikh,Muhammad M Hussain

doi:10.1063/5.0017769

Abstract

Monitoring the environment using electronic systems in harsh environments requires materials and processes that can withstand harsh environments. Environmental harshness can come from the surrounding temperature, varying pressure, intense radiation, reactive chemicals, humidity, salinity, or a combination of any of these conditions. Here, we present graphene as a candidate for a multisensory flexible platform in harsh-environment applications. We designed sensors for harsh environments like high temperature (operating range up to 650 °C), high salinity, and chemical harsh environments (pH sensing) on a single flexible polyimide sheet. The high-temperature graphene sensor gives a sensitivity of 260% higher than the Pt-based sensor. The temperature sensor acts between metal and a thermistor, thereby providing an opportunity to classify the region depending on temperature (&lt;210 °C linear and &gt; 210 °C up to 650 °C as quadratic). Improved performances are observed for salinity and pH sensing in comparison with existing non-graphene solutions. The simple transfer free fabrication technique of graphene on a flexible platform and laser-induced graphene on a flexible polyimide sheet opens the potential for harsh-environment monitoring and multisensory graphene skin in future applications.

Highlights

With progressive developments in the field of Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Everything (IoE), miniaturized sensors that can be integrated with all kinds of environments have gained significant attraction from researchers
Thin-film metals, graphene, carbon nanotube (CNT), and carbon fiber are used in naturally flexible polymeric materials like ECOFLEX, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyimide (PI), papers, and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to make physically flexible and robust sensors that can be used for a variety of applications.[17–24]
There have been hundreds of studies conducted on using graphene-based sensors and electronic devices focused on health monitoring applications

Summary

Introduction

With progressive developments in the field of Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of Everything (IoE), miniaturized sensors that can be integrated with all kinds of environments have gained significant attraction from researchers. It has been extensively studied for superior properties like high electron mobility, mechanical strength, optical properties, and thermal conductivity,[25–28] and more recently been explored for sensing applications. High-quality single-layer graphene (SLG) can be obtained using a relatively simple chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process.[29] there have been hundreds of studies conducted on using graphene-based sensors and electronic devices focused on health monitoring applications.

Results

Conclusion