Fabrication of Graphene by Electrochemical Intercalation Method and Performance of Graphene/PVA Composites as Stretchable Strain Sensor

Strain sensors fabricated from polymer and graphene composites are gaining attention due to its peculiar electrical and mechanical properties. Here, we used electrochemical intercalation method to produce graphene. Graphene/PVA composite intended for use as stretchable strain sensor was fabricated using different amounts of graphene. In addition, the effect of the applied electrochemical bias method on the properties of exfoliated graphene was investigated. Results showed that use of applied bias produced thinner graphene with low defect and better thermal stability compared to 10 V applied voltage. Notably, the electrical conductivity of the graphene obtained at 5 V applied voltage (2.53 x 10(-1) S/cm) is higher than that of 10 V applied bias (6.33 x 10(-2) S/cm). Significantly, incorporation of graphene produced at 5 V into PVA results in five-order increase in electrical conductivity of the composite film from 0.1 to 0.5 wt% graphene. In addition, the hysteresis and sensitivity performance of the sensor produced by 0.5 wt% of graphene loading is better than that of sensors with lower amount of graphene loadings. Therefore, the sensor produced by 0.5 wt% of graphene loading has a potential to be used as wearable sensor.