Fabrication of silver nanorods embedded in PDMS film and its application for strain sensing

Publisher: IOP Publishing

E-ISSN: 1361-6463|48|44|445303-445306

ISSN: 0022-3727

Source: Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol.48, Iss.44, 2014-11, pp. : 445303-445306

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Abstract

Highly reflective and surface conductive strain gauges have been prepared by embedding the silver nanorods (AgNRs) into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Thermal curing of PDMS on AgNRs grown Si wafer leads to a flexible, reflective and conductive silver surface. The reflectance of the as prepared films were observed to be 60% with a low value of sheet resistance. The reflectance of the film was able to be tuned from 60% to 15% in the visible region. The fabrication of a parallel plate capacitor strain sensor from AgNRs embedded PDMS, and tuning of the capacitance with respect to the applied strain, leads to a gauge factor of ~1. These mechanically tunable AgNRs/PDMS films demonstrate potential application as a strain sensor.