Microcapsule encapsulated with leuco dye as a visual sensor for concrete damage indication color variation.

A microcapsule-type visualization sensor for concrete structural damage indication is proposed in this article. Crystal violet lactone, as damage indicator, was microencapsulated within poly(methyl methacrylate) to synthesize the sensor. The successful encapsulation was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry.

Patterned Metal/Polymer Composite Film with Good Mechanical Stability and Repeatability for Flexible Electronic Devices Using Nanoimprint Technology.

Mechanical stability and repeatability are significant factors for the application of metal film flexible electronic devices. In this work, patterned metal/polymer composite films with good mechanical stability and repeatability were fabricated through nanoimprint technology. The mechanical properties characteristic of metal/polymer composite films were exhibited by resistance change (Δ/) after cyclic tension and bending loading.

Patterned Metal/Polymer Strain Sensor with Good Flexibility, Mechanical Stability and Repeatability for Human Motion Detection.

Wearable health monitoring smart systems based on flexible metal films are considered to be the next generation of devices for remote medical practice. However, cracks on the metallic surface of the films and difficulty in repeatability are the key issues that restrict the application of such wearable strain sensors. In this work, a flexible wearable strain sensor with high sensitivity and good repeatability was fabricated based on a patterned metal/polymer composite material fabricated through nanoimprint lithography.

Angle-dependent structural colors in a nanoscale-grating photonic crystal fabricated by reverse nanoimprint technology.

The structural color of angle-sensitive photonic crystals has attracted great interest because of a possible application in visual sensors. The appearance of a photonic crystal is mainly influenced by the optical properties, structural parameters and the observation angle. In this work, an angle-sensitive photonic crystal with nanoscale gratings was fabricated through reverse nanoimprint lithography.

Flexible Metal/Polymer Composite Films Embedded with Silver Nanowires as a Stretchable and Conductive Strain Sensor for Human Motion Monitoring.

To avoid conductive failure due to the cracks of the metal thin film under external loads for the wearable strain sensor, a stretchable metal/polymer composite film embedded with silver nanowires (AgNWs) was examined as a potential candidate. The combination of Ag film and AgNWs enabled the fabrication of a conductive film that was applied as a high sensitivity strain sensor, with gauge factors of 7.1 under the applied strain of 0-10% and 21.

Effects of aspect ratio and metal layer thickness on demoulding of metal/polymer bilayer gratings during nanoimprinting.

During the fabrication of metal/polymer bilayer gratings by nanoimprint lithography, adhesion and friction forces at the interfaces can deform and damage the transferred pattern of the bilayer grating during the demoulding process. To improve the quality of bilayer gratings, the effects of the aspect ratio and metal layer thickness on deformation and stress during the demoulding process in the nanoimprinting of bilayer gratings were investigated. This information was used to determine the optimal grating parameters.