Strain sensing using electrically conductive structures fabricated by femtosecond-laser-based modification of PDMS

Strain sensing was demonstrated by utilizing electrically conductive silicon-carbide (β-SiC) fabricated by femtosecond-laser-based direct modification of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Depending on the laser scanning direction used for the fabrication procedure, the fabricated structures showed different sensitivity to strain and this difference was discussed by observing the surface morphology at various bending radii using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The change in electrical conductance at the flat state after repeated bending was also investigated. Furthermore, preliminary demonstration of human motion sensing was performed using the fabricated structures. The presented method will open doors to novel electronic device applications using PDMS.