Elastomeric transparent capacitive sensors based on an interpenetrating composite of silver nanowires and polyurethane

Highly flexible transparent capacitive sensors have been demonstrated for the detection of deformation and pressure. The elastomeric sensors employ a pair of compliant electrodes comprising silver nanowire networks embedded in the surface layer of polyurethane matrix, and a highly compliant dielectric spacer sandwiched between the electrodes. The capacitance of the sensor sheets increases linearly with strains up to 60% during uniaxial stretching, and linearly with externally applied transverse pressure from 1 MPa down to 1 kPa. Stretchable sensor arrays consisting of 10 x 10 pixels have also been fabricated by patterning the composite electrodes into X-Y addressable passive matrix. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4794143]