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Low cost nanomechanical surfaces stress based sensors fabricated by hybrid materials

Abstract:

We present the fabrication of nanomechanical surface stress based transducers by using the nowadays knowns as smart materials, to achieve a power-free array of sensors that change their reflective color depending on the surface stress change induced on each sensor. Nanocomposite materials of elastomeric polymers and ordered nanoparticles embedded inside the polymer were chosen for the fabrication process. These composite materials, besides being cheap and easily fabricated in mass production, present a mechanochromic behavior producing a color change of the material when applying a deformation process mainly due to the change in the distance between nanoparticles. We have fabricated arrays of mechanochromic membranes by infiltrating colloidal photonic crystals of polystyrene nanoparticles with Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Hybrids PDMS and 3D or 2D colloidal photonic crystals were prepared, and compared its sensitivity to strain changes. The color, due to the Bragg diffraction (3D) or light scattering (2D), was analyzed by UV-visible spectrometry.