Affiliations 

  • 1 Centre for Applied Biomechanics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. ashisbidyarthi@gmail.com
  • 2 Centre for Applied Biomechanics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. prsumit@gmail.com
  • 3 Centre for Applied Biomechanics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. ayanbabu@gmail.com
  • 4 Department of Paediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. nabilafarhana.shah@gmail.com
  • 5 Centre for Applied Biomechanics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. hanie_nadia@um.edu.my
  • 6 Department of Paediatric Dentistry & Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. zamrir@um.edu.my
  • 7 Centre for Applied Biomechanics, Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia. prsumit@um.edu.my
Sensors (Basel), 2016;16(3):292.
PMID: 26927116 DOI: 10.3390/s16030292

Abstract

Armalcolite, a rare ceramic mineral and normally found in the lunar earth, was synthesized by solid-state step-sintering. The in situ phase-changed novel ceramic nanocrystals of Ca-Mg-Ti-Fe based oxide (CMTFOx), their chemical reactions and bonding with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) were determined by X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, and microscopy. Water absorption of all the CMTFOx was high. The lower dielectric loss tangent value (0.155 at 1 MHz) was obtained for the ceramic sintered at 1050 °C (S1050) and it became lowest for the S1050/PDMS nanocomposite (0.002 at 1 MHz) film, which was made by spin coating at 3000 rpm. The excellent flexibility (static modulus ≈ 0.27 MPa and elongation > 90%), viscoelastic property (tanδ = E″/E': 0.225) and glass transition temperature (Tg: -58.5 °C) were obtained for S1050/PDMS film. Parallel-plate capacitive and flexible resistive humidity sensors have been developed successfully. The best sensing performance of the present S1050 (3000%) and its flexible S1050/PDMS composite film (306%) based humidity sensors was found to be at 100 Hz, better than conventional materials.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.