skip to main content

Explore Research Products in the NSF-PAR

This content will become publicly available on August 1, 2024

Title: Multifunctional Graphene–Polymer Nanocomposite Sensors Formed by One-Step In Situ Shear Exfoliation of Graphite

Graphene nanocomposites are a promising class of advanced materials for sensing applications; yet, their commercialization is hindered due to impurity incorporation during fabrication and high costs. The aim of this work is to prepare graphene–polysulfone (G−PSU) and graphene–polyvinylidene fluoride (G−PVDF) nanocomposites that perform as multifunctional sensors and are formed using a one-step, in situ exfoliation process whereby graphite is exfoliated into graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) directly within the polymer. This low-cost method creates a nanocomposite while avoiding impurity exposure since the raw materials used in the in situ shear exfoliation process are graphite and polymers. The morphology, structure, thermal properties, and flexural properties were determined for G−PSU and G−PVDF nanocomposites, as well as the electromechanical sensor capability during cyclic flexural loading, temperature sensor testing while heating and cooling, and electrochemical sensor capability to detect dopamine while sensing data wirelessly. G−PSU and G−PVDF nanocomposites show superior mechanical characteristics (gauge factor around 27 and significantly enhanced modulus), thermal characteristics (stability up to 500 °C and 170 °C for G−PSU and G−PVDF, respectively), electrical characteristics (0.1 S/m and 1 S/m conductivity for G−PSU and G−PVDF, respectively), and distinguished resonant peaks for wireless sensing (~212 MHz and ~429 MHz). These uniquely formed G−PMC nanocomposites are promising candidates as strain sensors for structural health monitoring, as temperature sensors for use in automobiles and aerospace applications, and as electrochemical sensors for health care and disease diagnostics.

  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2138574
NSF-PAR ID:
10484616
Author(s) / Creator(s):
; ; ; ; ;
Publisher / Repository:
MDPI
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Journal of Composites Science
Volume:
7
Issue:
8
ISSN:
2504-477X
Page Range / eLocation ID:
309
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ( , Composites science and technology)
    null (Ed.)
    Structural health monitoring of fiber reinforced composites is an extensive field of research that aims to reduce maintenance costs through in-situ damage detection. However, the need for externally bonded sensor systems and complicated fabrication processes limit the widespread application of most current structural health monitoring techniques. This work introduces a novel multifunctional fiber reinforced composite that relies on a ferroelectric prepreg fabricated using dehydrofluorinated (DHF) polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), which exhibits a thermally stable piezoelectric response. The self-sensing material presented in this work requires minimal external components, as the piezoelectric sensing mechanism is fully contained within the composite. This is accomplished by fabricating a ferroelectric prepreg consisting of DHF PVDF infused woven fiberglass, which is sandwiched between woven carbon fabric layers that act as electrodes, thus forming a piezoelectric sensor fabricated with entirely structural composite materials. Notably, the sensing material is a fully distributed prepreg rather than discretely embedded sensors which enables simplified monitoring of complex structures. As the composite experiences damage under flexural and tensile loading, the internal change in strain results in a charge separation that is detectable as a voltage emission across the sample electrodes. The self-sensing capabilities of this material are explored using traditional mechanical testing techniques, showing comparable performance to common damage detection methods, all while eliminating the need for external bonding of sensors to the structure. 
    more » « less
  2. ( , Composites science and technology)
    null (Ed.)
    Structural health monitoring of fiber reinforced composites is an extensive field of research that aims to reduce maintenance costs through in-situ damage detection. However, the need for externally bonded sensor systems and complicated fabrication processes limit the widespread application of most current structural health monitoring techniques. This work introduces a novel multifunctional fiber reinforced composite that relies on a ferroelectric prepreg fabricated using dehydrofluorinated (DHF) polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), which exhibits a thermally stable piezoelectric response. The self-sensing material presented in this work requires minimal external components, as the piezoelectric sensing mechanism is fully contained within the composite. This is accomplished by fabricating a ferroelectric prepreg consisting of DHF PVDF infused woven fiberglass, which is sandwiched between woven carbon fabric layers that act as electrodes, thus forming a piezoelectric sensor fabricated with entirely structural composite materials. Notably, the sensing material is a fully distributed prepreg rather than discretely embedded sensors which enables simplified monitoring of complex structures. As the composite experiences damage under flexural and tensile loading, the internal change in strain results in a charge separation that is detectable as a voltage emission across the sample electrodes. The self-sensing capabilities of this material are explored using traditional mechanical testing techniques, showing comparable performance to common damage detection methods, all while eliminating the need for external bonding of sensors to the structure. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ( , Sensors)
    null (Ed.)
    Toxic gases, such as NOx, SOx, H2S and other S-containing gases, cause numerous harmful effects on human health even at very low gas concentrations. Reliable detection of various gases in low concentration is mandatory in the fields such as industrial plants, environmental monitoring, air quality assurance, automotive technologies and so on. In this paper, the recent advances in electrochemical sensors for toxic gas detections were reviewed and summarized with a focus on NO2, SO2 and H2S gas sensors. The recent progress of the detection of each of these toxic gases was categorized by the highly explored sensing materials over the past few decades. The important sensing performance parameters like sensitivity/response, response and recovery times at certain gas concentration and operating temperature for different sensor materials and structures have been summarized and tabulated to provide a thorough performance comparison. A novel metric, sensitivity per ppm/response time ratio has been calculated for each sensor in order to compare the overall sensing performance on the same reference. It is found that hybrid materials-based sensors exhibit the highest average ratio for NO2 gas sensing, whereas GaN and metal-oxide based sensors possess the highest ratio for SO2 and H2S gas sensing, respectively. Recently, significant research efforts have been made exploring new sensor materials, such as graphene and its derivatives, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), GaN, metal-metal oxide nanostructures, solid electrolytes and organic materials to detect the above-mentioned toxic gases. In addition, the contemporary progress in SO2 gas sensors based on zeolite and paper and H2S gas sensors based on colorimetric and metal-organic framework (MOF) structures have also been reviewed. Finally, this work reviewed the recent first principle studies on the interaction between gas molecules and novel promising materials like arsenene, borophene, blue phosphorene, GeSe monolayer and germanene. The goal is to understand the surface interaction mechanism. 
    more » « less
  4. ; ; ; ( , NDE 4.0 and Smart Structures for Industry, Smart Cities, Communication, and Energy)
    Meyendorf, Norbert G. ; Farhangdoust, Saman (Ed.)
    Metal-matrix composites with active components have been investigated as a way to functionalize metals. As opposed to surface-mounted approaches, smart materials embedded in metals can be effectively shielded against the environment while providing in-situ sensing, health monitoring, actuation, or energy harvesting functions. Typical manufacturing approaches can be problematic, however, in that they may physically damage the smart material or degrade its electromechanical properties. For instance, non-resin-based embedment procedures such as powder metallurgy involve isostatic compression and diffusion bonding, leading to high process temperatures and breakdown of the electromechanical properties of the active component to be embedded. This paper presents the development and characterization of an aluminum-matrix composite embedded with piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) sensors using ultrasonic additive manufacturing (UAM). UAM incorporates the principles of solid-state, ultrasonic metal welding and subtractive processes to fabricate metal-matrices with seamlessly embedded smart materials and without thermal loading. As implemented in this study, the UAM process uses as-received, commercial Al 6061 tape foilstock and TE Connectivity PVDF film. In order to increase the mechanical coupling between the sensor and the metal-matrix without the aid of adhesives, the PVDF sensor is embedded with an empirically optimized pre-compression defined by the tape foils welded above the sensor. The specimen is characterized by tensile (d31 mode), bending (d31 mode), and compression tests (d33 mode) to evaluate its functional performance. Within the investigated load range, the specimen exhibits open-circuit sensitivities of 4.6 mV/N under uniaxial tension and 9.7 mV/N under compressive impulse tests with better than 95% linearity and frequency bandwidth of several kilohertz. The technology presented in this study could be applied for load and tactile sensing, impact detection and localization, thermal measurements, energy harvesting, and non-destructive testing applications. 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; et al ( , Advanced Materials)
    Abstract

    Solution‐processed graphene is a promising material for numerous high‐volume applications including structural composites, batteries, sensors, and printed electronics. However, the polydisperse nature of graphene dispersions following liquid‐phase exfoliation poses major manufacturing challenges, as incompletely exfoliated graphite flakes must be removed to achieve optimal properties and downstream performance. Incumbent separation schemes rely on centrifugation, which is highly energy‐intensive and limits scalable manufacturing. Here, cross‐flow filtration (CFF) is introduced as a centrifuge‐free processing method that improves the throughput of graphene separation by two orders of magnitude. By tuning membrane pore sizes between microfiltration and ultrafiltration length scales, CFF can also be used for efficient recovery of solvents and stabilizing polymers. In this manner, life cycle assessment and techno‐economic analysis reveal that CFF reduces greenhouse gas emissions, fossil energy usage, water consumption, and specific production costs of graphene manufacturing by 57%, 56%, 63%, and 72%, respectively. To confirm that CFF produces electronic‐grade graphene, CFF‐processed graphene nanosheets are formulated into printable inks, leading to state‐of‐the‐art thin‐film conductivities exceeding 104S m−1. This CFF methodology can likely be generalized to other van der Waals layered solids, thus enabling sustainable manufacturing of the diverse set of applications currently being pursued for 2D materials.

     
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email