Development of Manufacturing and Characterization Methods for Carbon Black-Based Conductive Polymer Composite Sensors

This research details the process and methodology deployed to better understand the arrangement of colloidal carbon black (CB) nanoparticles in a spray-layer-by-layer (SLBL) manufactured conductive polymer composite (CPC). The effects of various SLBL parameters on the qualitative consistency and electromechanical performance of the resulting sensors are experimentally examined. Microscopy techniques are used to investigate the distribution and resulting CB structures of CPC films deposited on different types of substrates. Various substrate preparation methods and effects are discussed. Electrical characteristics of CPC films are investigated via deposition between copper electrode pairs on printed circuit boards. Practical applications of the characterized films are discussed along with future works regarding such sensors.