Performance of a silver nanoparticles-based polydimethylsiloxane composite strain sensor produced using different fabrication methods

Figure. (a) schematic diagram of the fabrication of Ag@PDMS composite strain sensor by three different methods (drop-casting, screen-printing, and spin-coating), and (b) Hysteresis behaviour and (c) dynamic stability test of Ag@PDMS by drop-casting method. [Display omitted] •AgNPs and PDMS composite strain sensor are fabricated by drop-casting, screen-printing, and spin-coating methods.•The performance of conductivity and sensitivity of the composite strain sensor are governed by the fabrication method.•The composite sensors exhibited high response deformation, high sensitivity, and hysteresis behaviour up to 70 % strain test.•The composite sensors exhibit stable deformation and fast response recovery time under cyclic testing. Nowadays, various types of flexible and stretchable strain sensors have been used in the potential applications in smart wearable devices such as human motion detection, soft robotics, and health monitoring, etc. The stretchable strain sensor can be produced by several fabrication methods. However, the production of a strain sensor with desirable characteristics, cost-effectiveness, and suitable mass consumption, is still challenging. The aim of this present study is to compare composite strain sensors fabricated by three methods which are drop-casting, screen-printing, and spin-coating. In this study, silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were used to fabricate Ag@PDMS composite based strain sensor. The electrical conductivity, hysteresis behaviour, and sensitivity of fabricated Ag@PDMS composite based strain sensors were analyzed by different characterization methods and the results were supported by morphological analysis. Based on the obtained results, the drop-casting and screen-printing methods produced Ag@PDMS composite strain sensors with good performance. Both methods produced Ag@PDMS composite strain sensors with similar electrical conductivity. The best hysteresis behaviour and the highest sensitivity performance (GF = 10.08) were achieved in the drop-casting method due to the less cracking observed under 70 % strain testing. In short, Ag@PDMS composite based strain sensor fabricated by the drop-casting method exhibited good performance and it has a potential to be used as a strain sensor.