High-performance flexible strain sensors are playing an increasingly important role in wearable electronics, such as human motion detection and health monitoring, with broad application prospects. This study developed a flexible resistance strain sensor with a porous structure composed of carbon black and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. A simple and low-cost spraying method for the surface of a porous polydimethylsiloxane substrate was used to form a layer of synergized conductive networks built by carbon black and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. By combining the advantages of the synergetic effects of mixed carbon black and carbon nanotubes and their porous polydimethylsiloxane structure, the performance of the sensor was improved. The results show that the sensor has a high sensitivity (GF) (up to 61.82), a wide strain range (0%–130%), a good linearity, and a high stability. Based on the excellent performance of the sensor, the flexible strain designed sensor was installed successfully on different joints of the human body, allowing for the monitoring of human movement and human respiratory changes. These results indicate that the sensor has promising potential for applications in human motion monitoring and physiological activity monitoring.
15 June 2019 in International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos
Alumina nanowires (Al2O3-NWs)/epoxy resin composites have been thoroughly studied due to their excellent insulating and dielectric performance. In particular, understanding the effect of nano-alumina with different morphologies on the dielectric performance of composites is of great significance. In this study, Al2O3-NWs with lengths of approximately 100 nm and diameters of approximately 5 nm were prepared and blended with anepoxy resin to form composites, and the effect of the mass fraction of fillers on the thermal conductivity of the composites was investigated. Specifically, the effect of alumina fillers with ananowire structure on the insulating and dielectric performance and breakdown strength of the epoxy composites were analyzed. The influence principle of the interfacial effect and heat accumulation on the dielectric and insulating properties of the composites were described. The results demonstrated that the thermal conductivity of Al2O3-NWs/epoxy resin composites was higher than that of the bare epoxy resin. The thermal conductivity of Al2O3-NWs/epoxy resin composites increased with increasing mass fraction of fillers. When the mass fraction of fillers was 10%, the thermal conductivity of the composite was 134% higher than that of the epoxy resin matrix. The volume resistivity of the composites first increased and then decreased as the mass fraction of fillers increased, while the dielectric constant of the composites increased with increasing mass fraction of fillers and decreasing frequency. The dielectric loss of the composites decreased and then increased as the mass fraction of fillers increased, and it increased with increasing frequency. Additionally, the alternating current breakdown strength of the composites first increased and then decreased withincreasingmass fraction of fillers.
In this paper, a new memcapacitor model and its corresponding circuit emulator are proposed, based on which, a chaotic oscillator is designed and the system dynamic characteristics are investigated, both analytically and experimentally. Extreme multistability and coexisting attractors are observed in this complex system. The basins of attraction, multistability, bifurcations, Lyapunov exponents, and initial-condition-triggered similar bifurcation are analyzed. Finally, the memcapacitor-based chaotic oscillator is realized via circuit implementation with experimental results presented.