Design and fabrication of tactile sensors based on electroactive polymer composites

Electroactive polymers, Nafion and Flemion, have been widely investigated as actuator materials due to their good performance, such as light weight, good flexibility, low actuation voltage, large strain. However, less research work has been done on the sensing behaviors of these materials. In this work, we design and fabricate a tactile sensor based on Flemion with water as solvent. Several mechano-electro relationships were obtained when different mechanical input pulses were applied. According to the experiment results, Flemion-based composite could survive much longer time as sensor materials than that as actuator materials in air. By proper design and fabrication, a tactile sensor for potential three-dimensional sensing could be achieved based on this material. Electroactive based polymers would be a good candidate for bio-related sensors especially for artificial derma applications.