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Inpil Kang

Bio: Inpil Kang is an academic researcher from Pukyong National University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Carbon nanotube & Piezoresistive effect. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 38 publications receiving 1691 citations. Previous affiliations of Inpil Kang include University of Cincinnati & Konkuk University.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
Inpil Kang1, Mark J. Schulz1, Jay Kim1, Vesselin Shanov1, Donglu Shi1 
TL;DR: In this paper, a biomimetic artificial neuron was developed by extending the length of the sensor, which is a long continuous strain sensor that has a low cost, is simple to install and is lightweight.
Abstract: A carbon nanotube polymer material was used to form a piezoresistive strain sensor for structural health monitoring applications. The polymer improves the interfacial bonding between the nanotubes. Previous single walled carbon nanotube buckypaper sensors produced distorted strain measurements because the van der Waals attraction force allowed axial slipping of the smooth surfaces of the nanotubes. The polymer sensor uses larger multi-walled carbon nanotubes which improve the strain transfer, repeatability and linearity of the sensor. An electrical model of the nanotube strain sensor was derived based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and strain testing. The model is useful for designing nanotube sensor systems. A biomimetic artificial neuron was developed by extending the length of the sensor. The neuron is a long continuous strain sensor that has a low cost, is simple to install and is lightweight. The neuron has a low bandwidth and adequate strain sensitivity. The neuron sensor is particularly useful for detecting large strains and cracking, and can reduce the number of channels of data acquisition needed for the health monitoring of large structures.

973 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The potential use of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers as smart composite materials is discussed in this article, where four applications under development are briefly discussed and a vision is presented for using nanoscale smart materials to synthesize intelligent electronic structures with prescribed elastic and electrical properties for a wide range of new applications.
Abstract: The potential use of carbon nanotubes and nanofibers as smart composite materials is discussed in this paper. An overview of the properties of carbon nanotube materials is presented, and then four applications under development are briefly discussed. The first application is electrochemical actuation in dry and aqueous environments. The second is a carbon nanotube polymer piezoresistive strain sensor developed for structural health monitoring. Third, nanotubes are used with an electrolyte for harvesting power from structural vibration. Fourth, a carbon nanotube bioelectronic sensor is discussed. Tying all this together, a vision is presented for using nanoscale smart materials to synthesize intelligent electronic structures with prescribed elastic and electrical properties for a wide range of new applications. Hurdles to be overcome to achieve this goal are also discussed.

416 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a smart hybrid material called Graphene based nano composites which have piezoresistivity for strain sensor has been presented to address the need for new smart hybrid materials, and the strain response of graphene/epoxy composites showed fairly symmetrical and reversible behavior.

141 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the composites were prepared with a constant amount of organo-clay and various amounts of multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) from 5 to 50 ¼%.
Abstract: Conducting rubber composites of ethylene propylene diene M-class rubber (EPDM) were prepared with multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and organo-clay, Cloisite® 15A to develop flexible strain sensitive materials. The composites were prepared with a constant amount of organo-clay and various amounts of MWCNTs from 5 to 50 wt.%. Organo-clay led to improved dispersion of MWCNTs in the rubber matrix. Upon increasing the MWCNT contents, the tensile strength, stiffness and electrical conductivity of the composites increased significantly but the elongation at break decreased in the EPDM/MWCNT composites. The organo-clay was able to improve tensile strength, stiffness, elongation at break and electrical conductivity of the composites. The non-symmetric linear resistance change was observed by the composites under deformation.

69 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a method for damage detection in a plate structure is presented based on strain waves that are generated by foreign object impact on the structure, or by damage that is propagating in the structure.
Abstract: A method for damage detection in a plate structure is presented based on strain waves that are generated by foreign object impact on the structure, or by damage that is propagating in the structure. The response characteristics of continuous sensors, which are long ribbon-like sensors, were studied by simulation of wave propagation in a panel. The advantage of the continuous sensor is to improve damage detection by having a large coverage of sensors on the structure using a small number of channels of data acquisition. Strain responses from the continuous sensors were used to estimate the damage location using a neural network technique. Eight hundred numerical wave propagation simulation runs for a plate were carried out to train the neural network and verify the proposed method for damage localization. The identified damage locations agreed reasonably well with the exact damage locations. Overall, the approach presented is meant to simplify the instrumentation needed for damage detection by using continuous sensors, a small number of channels of data acquisition, and training a neural network to do the work of locating the damage source.

37 citations


Cited by
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors present recent advancements in the development of flexible and stretchable strain sensors, including skin-mountable and wearable strain sensors for personalized health-monitoring, human motion detection, human-machine interfaces, soft robotics, and so forth.
Abstract: There is a growing demand for flexible and soft electronic devices. In particular, stretchable, skin-mountable, and wearable strain sensors are needed for several potential applications including personalized health-monitoring, human motion detection, human-machine interfaces, soft robotics, and so forth. This Feature Article presents recent advancements in the development of flexible and stretchable strain sensors. The article shows that highly stretchable strain sensors are successfully being developed by new mechanisms such as disconnection between overlapped nanomaterials, crack propagation in thin films, and tunneling effect, different from traditional strain sensing mechanisms. Strain sensing performances of recently reported strain sensors are comprehensively studied and discussed, showing that appropriate choice of composite structures as well as suitable interaction between functional nanomaterials and polymers are essential for the high performance strain sensing. Next, simulation results of piezoresistivity of stretchable strain sensors by computational models are reported. Finally, potential applications of flexible strain sensors are described. This survey reveals that flexible, skin-mountable, and wearable strain sensors have potential in diverse applications while several grand challenges have to be still overcome.

2,154 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
Morteza Amjadi1, Aekachan Pichitpajongkit1, Sangjun Lee1, Seunghwa Ryu1, Inkyu Park1 
29 Apr 2014-ACS Nano
TL;DR: The applicability of the high performance strain sensors based on the nanocomposite of silver nanowire network and PDMS elastomer in the form of the sandwich structure is demonstrated by fabricating a glove integrated with five strain sensors for the motion detection of fingers and control of an avatar in the virtual environment.
Abstract: The demand for flexible and wearable electronic devices is increasing due to their facile interaction with human body. Flexible, stretchable and wearable sensors can be easily mounted on clothing or directly attached onto the body. Especially, highly stretchable and sensitive strain sensors are needed for the human motion detection. Here, we report highly flexible, stretchable and sensitive strain sensors based on the nanocomposite of silver nanowire (AgNW) network and PDMS elastomer in the form of the sandwich structure (i.e., AgNW thin film embedded between two layers of PDMS). The AgNW network-elastomer nanocomposite based strain sensors show strong piezoresistivity with tunable gauge factors in the ranges of 2 to 14 and a high stretchability up to 70%. We demonstrate the applicability of our high performance strain sensors by fabricating a glove integrated with five strain sensors for the motion detection of fingers and control of an avatar in the virtual environment.

1,837 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The latest successful examples of flexible and stretchable physical sensors for the detection of temperature, pressure, and strain, as well as their novel structures, technological innovations, and challenges, are reviewed.
Abstract: Flexible and stretchable physical sensors that can measure and quantify electrical signals generated by human activities are attracting a great deal of attention as they have unique characteristics, such as ultrathinness, low modulus, light weight, high flexibility, and stretchability. These flexible and stretchable physical sensors conformally attached on the surface of organs or skin can provide a new opportunity for human-activity monitoring and personal healthcare. Consequently, in recent years there has been considerable research effort devoted to the development of flexible and stretchable physical sensors to fulfill the requirements of future technology, and much progress has been achieved. Here, the most recent developments of flexible and stretchable physical sensors are described, including temperature, pressure, and strain sensors, and flexible and stretchable sensor-integrated platforms. The latest successful examples of flexible and stretchable physical sensors for the detection of temperature, pressure, and strain, as well as their novel structures, technological innovations, and challenges, are reviewed first. In the next section, recent progress regarding sensor-integrated wearable platforms is overviewed in detail. Some of the latest achievements regarding self-powered sensor-integrated wearable platform technologies are also reviewed. Further research direction and challenges are also proposed to develop a fully sensor-integrated wearable platform for monitoring human activity and personal healthcare in the near future.

1,469 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the state of the field of nanotechnology in concrete is reviewed and the impact of recent advances in instrumentation and computational materials science and their use in concrete research is discussed.

1,385 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There are a number of challenges yet to overcome to optimize the processing and performance of CNT-based flexible electronics; nonetheless, CNTs remain a highly suitable candidate for various flexible electronic applications in the near future.
Abstract: Flexible electronics offer a wide-variety of applications such as flexible circuits, flexible displays, flexible solar cells, skin-like pressure sensors, and conformable RFID tags. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are a promising material for flexible electronics, both as the channel material in field-effect transistors (FETs) and as transparent electrodes, due to their high intrinsic carrier mobility, conductivity, and mechanical flexibility. In this feature article, we review the recent progress of CNTs in flexible electronics by describing both the processing and the applications of CNT-based flexible devices. To employ CNTs as the channel material in FETs, single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) are used. There are generally two methods of depositing SWNTs on flexible substrates—transferring CVD-grown SWNTs or solution-depositing SWNTs. Since CVD-grown SWNTs can be highly aligned, they often outperform solution-processed SWNT films that are typically in the form of random network. However, solution-based SWNTs can be printed at a large-scale and at low-cost, rendering them more appropriate for manufacturing. In either case, the removal of metallic SWNTs in an effective and a scalable manner is critical, which must still be developed and optimized. Nevertheless, promising results demonstrating SWNT-based flexible circuits, displays, RF-devices, and biochemical sensors have been reported by various research groups, proving insight into the exciting possibilities of SWNT-based FETs. In using carbon nanotubes as transparent electrodes (TEs), two main strategies have been implemented to fabricate highly conductive, transparent, and mechanically compliant films—superaligned films of CNTs drawn from vertically grown CNT forests using the “dry-drawing” technique and the deposition or embedding of CNTs onto flexible or stretchable substrates. The main challenge for CNT based TEs is to fabricate films that are both highly conductive and transparent. These CNT based TEs have been used in stretchable and flexible pressure, strain, and chemical and biological sensors. In addition, they have also been used as the anode and cathode in flexible light emitting diodes, solar cells, and supercapacitors. In summary, there are a number of challenges yet to overcome to optimize the processing and performance of CNT-based flexible electronics; nonetheless, CNTs remain a highly suitable candidate for various flexible electronic applications in the near future.

1,036 citations