Electromechanical response of conductive porous structure

Abstract

Porous conductors with large surface-volume ratios have been applied to a variety of fields, including absorbents, flexible heaters, and electrodes for supercapacitors. In this study, we implemented sensitive pressure sensors using the mechanical and electrical characteristics of conductive porous structures manufactured by immersing sponges into a carbon nanotube solution and then measured the change in resistance. When pressure was applied to conductive sponges, carbon nanotubes were attached to each other and the resistance was reduced by up to 20%. The carbon nanotube sponges, which were soft and had superior elasticity, were quickly stabilized without any changes taking place in their shape, and they showed consistent change in resistance during experiments of repetitive pressure. The pressure devices based on conductive porous sponges were connected to single-walled carbon nanotube field effect transistors (SWCNT-FETs) and changes in their characteristics were investigated according to external pressure.