Nanocomposite flexible pressure sensor for biomedical applications

A new approach for the fabrication of flexible pressure sensors based on aligned carbon nanotubes (A-CNTs) is described in this paper. The technology is suitable for blood pressure sensors that can be attached to a stent-graft and deployed during an endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) procedure. Giv...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Sepúlveda, A. T. (author)
Other Authors: Fachin, F. (author), Guzmán de Villoria, R. (author), Wardle, B. L. (author), Viana, J. C. (author), Pontes, A. J. (author), Rocha, Luís A. (author)
Format: conferencePaper
Language:eng
Published: 2011
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1822/14705
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/14705
Description
Summary:A new approach for the fabrication of flexible pressure sensors based on aligned carbon nanotubes (A-CNTs) is described in this paper. The technology is suitable for blood pressure sensors that can be attached to a stent-graft and deployed during an endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) procedure. Given the specifications of EVAR, the device should be foldable (extremely flexible) and characterized by a (very small) profile that integrates with the stent-graft cross section. A-CNTs embedded in a flexible substrate of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a transparent, nontoxic and biocompatible silicone elastomer, are used to fabricate elements of the capacitive sensors. Fabricated prototypes validate our approach and show that CNTs/PDMS layered composites can be used to create highly flexible pressure sensors.