Smart Nanocomposite Paints

Project title: Flexible Graphene Nanosheets for Distributed Sensing

Source of support: U.S. Army Corp of Engineers

Graphene has emerged as one of the most impressive materials, harboring both excellent mechanical and electrical properties. The objective of this research is to devise a simple and low-cost fabrication method for assembling graphene-based multifunctional thin films. As a step towards this long-term goal, the initial work focuses on designing and validating the performance of graphene-polymer thin film strain sensors (Fig. 1). The dispersion of graphene was characterized extensively so that solution-based techniques could be employed for film fabrication. Then, the piezoresistivity of these films were validated using tensile-compressive cyclic load tests, and its strain sensitivity, stability, and resolution was optimized. High-performance graphene-based fabric sensors were fabricated and integrated with socket prostheses' liners for realizing next-generation smart socket prostheses. 

Collaborators:

• Elintrix (Escondido, CA)

• Prof. Wei-Hung Chiang, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology