Kenneth J Loh et al 2007 Smart Mater. Struct. 16 429 doi:10.1088/0964-1726/16/2/022
Kenneth J Loh1, Junhee Kim1, Jerome P Lynch1,2,5, Nadine Wong Shi Kam3,4 and Nicholas A Kotov4
Show affiliationsSince the discovery of carbon nanotubes, researchers have been fascinated by their mechanical and electrical properties, as well as their versatility for a wide array of applications. In this study, a carbon nanotube–polyelectrolyte composite multilayer thin film fabricated by a layer-by-layer (LbL) method is proposed to develop a multifunctional material for measuring strain and corrosion processes. LbL fabrication of carbon nanotube composites yields mechanically strong thin films in which multiple sensing transduction mechanisms can be encoded. For example, judicious selection of carbon nanotube concentrations and polyelectrolyte matrices can yield thin films that exhibit changes in their electrical properties to strain and pH. In this study, experimental results suggest a consistent trend between carbon nanotube concentrations and strain sensor sensitivity. Furthermore, by simply altering the type of polyelectrolyte used, pH sensors of high sensitivity can be developed to potentially monitor environmental factors suggesting corrosion of metallic structural materials (e.g. steel, aluminum).
07.07.Df Sensors (chemical, optical, electrical, movement, gas, etc.); remote sensing
Issue 2 (April 2007)
Received 19 May 2006, in final form 14 December 2006
Published 9 February 2007
Kenneth J Loh et al 2007 Smart Mater. Struct. 16 429
J Kertesz and L B Kiss 1990 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 23 L433
Abir Zahalka and Aaron Fenster 2001 Phys. Med. Biol. 46 1321
J Schurr et al 2007 Metrologia 44 15
B Julsgaard et al 2004 J. Opt. B: Quantum Semiclass. Opt. 6 5
R Sainz et al 2005 Nanotechnology 16 S150
C Moore 1991 Nonlinearity 4 199
Douglas J Bakkum et al 2008 J. Neural Eng. 5 310
Seungwon Baek et al JHEP06(2005)017
Howard Baer and Jorge O'Farrill JCAP04(2004)005