Porous PDMS force sensitive resistors

Abstract

Here we present an elastomeric force sensitive resistor (FSR) made from a porous matrix of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) filled with carbon black. The fabrication process is based on the use of a low cost sacrificial sugar cube scaffold which leads to a highly porous and compressible material. By filling this porous matrix with carbon black we can achieve typical resistance changes from 20 kΩ to 100 Ω for an applied 95% compressive strain. This material is suitable for a wide variety of sensing applications which include tactile artificial skin for robotics and solvent detection.