Resumo
The technology of wearable devices advances at a fast pace, creating oportunities for new medical applications. In particular, for pressure sensing and transduction, direct contact between sensor and target object is necessary. When this object is soft, the flexibility of pressure sensors is an important parameter for suitable device performance.
In this work, we report on the synthesis of low cost composites based on poliurethane (PU) and reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) for applications in tactile feedback for neurologically impaired subjects. For the fabrication of the composites, we used two protocols of deposition (by dispersion or centrifugation) of Oxide Graphene (GO) in PU sponges with different densities. Reduced GO was obtained by immersion in acid ascorbic; the electrical resistances of the samples dropped by 1 to 2 (2 to 3) orders of magnitude for the dispersion and centrifugation protocols, respectively.
Structural characterization of the samples by scanning electron microscopy shows that both GO and r-GO adhere to the sponges; however, the PU pore structure changes as a function of PU density, influencing graphene incorporation. Electrical resistances of the samples were measured as a function of compression length and applied force. It was observed that resistance varied exponentially with applied force and compression, at the ranges expected for object manipulation.
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