Effects of MWCNT and Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) contents on the electrical conductivity and sensor properties of thermoplastic polyurethane nanosurfaces

Abstract

Recently, strain sensors have significant areas of usage with their strain, stretching and wearable features for various applications such as personal health monitoring, joint movement detection, robotics, etc. To achieve this, various studies are conducted to optimize the production of MWCNT-based nanocomposites. In the present study, a total of 12 solutions were formulated by introducing Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNT) and Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS) at different concentrations and ratios into the Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) solution, and then nanocomposite surfaces were produced from these solutions through an electrospinning process. These samples were subjected to resistance changes due to elongation, gauge factor changes due to elongation to evaluate the sensor property and cycle tests to evaluate the sustainability of the sensor feature. According to the results, the best sensor properties were obtained in the samples with SDS added at a rate of 1/20 (MWCNT:SDS) for 0.3 MWCNT and 0.5 MWCNT; on the other hand 1/26 weight ratio of MWCNT:SDS for 0.7 MWCNT.