Electrospun Nanocomposites as Flexible Sensors

Electrospun polymer/nanoparticle composite-fiber strips are introduced as permeable, flexible strain sensors. The composite strips are referred as nanocomposite in this study. In the experiments with uniaxial elongation, the nanocomposite strips showed a reproducible increase in electrical resistance indicating the strain level. The resistance increase was interpreted with a novel percolation model that accommodated changing strips geometry. A theoretical framework for nanocomposites as possible detectors of local clogging in large-scale filters is also proposed.