Laser synthesized gold nanoparticles for high sensitive strain gauges
Author
Burzhuev, S.
Dana, A.
Ortac, B.
Date
2013-12-01Source Title
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical
Print ISSN
0924-4247
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
203
Pages
131 - 136
Language
English
Type
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Abstract
We demonstrate high strain sensitivity property of gold nanoparticle (Au-NP) thin films fabricated on flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates. This behavior is attributed to quantum tunneling effect that is highly dependent on nanoparticle separation. Au-NPs were synthesized in water by nanosecond laser ablation method. The clean surface providing high tunneling decay constant, size of the Au-NPs and Au-NPs aggregate clusters offer advantages for high sensitivity strain sensor. We prepared Au-NPs films on flexible PDMS substrate by using hands-on drop-cast method. To obtain high gauge factor (g factor), we investigated the nanoparticles concentration on the substrate. Laser-generated Au-NPs films demonstrated g factor of ∼300 for higher than 0.22% strain and ∼80 for the strain lower than 0.22% strain, which is favorably comparable to reported sensitivities for strain sensors based on Au-NPs. Mechanical characterizations for the prolonged working durations suggest long term stability of the strain sensors. We discuss several models describing conductance of films in low and high strain regimes.
Keywords
Laser ablationGold nanoparticles
Gold nanoparticle films
Quantum tunneling effect
Strain gauges