Fracture-Induced Mechanoelectrical Sensitivities of Paper-Based Nanocomposites

Nanostructured composites built with microporous cellulose fibers and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have potential impacts in the fields of energy storage, sensors, and flexible electronics. Few results have been shown for high mechanoelectrical sensitivity of CNT-paper composite because of numerous current paths in the network. Here, CNT-paper-based nanostructured composite sensors whose sensitivities are generated by controlled tensile fracture of the composite are presented. Under uniaxial load, the cellulose fibers in the paper experience straightening, stiffening, and fracture. The cellulose fibers originally parallel to the tension are fractured while those inclined and perpendicular to the tension are reorganized to form crossbar junctions in the vicinity of a crack. The cross junctions exhibit resistive and capacitive sensitivity to the out-of-plane force by the compression of the junctions. Such piezoresistive and piezocapacitive sensitivities are characterized and evaluated for human behavior monitoring.