Towards a Practical Powerless ZnO Nanorods Touch Sensor Fabricated on a Silicon and a Flexible Polyamide Substrate

In this paper, a tactile sensor based on ZnO nanorods was fabricated and characterized.A silicon and a polyamide substrate were utilized to achieve both a rigid and a flexible sensor.The ZnO nanorods was achieved using hydrothermal technique.The size and shape of the nanorods were recognized by the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM).An interesting hexagonal cross section shape were achieved, which is very sensitive to the external pressure.An elevation in the detector output current was measured as the pressure applied to the detector.Two tests were applied to the sensor, first, a horizontal pressure and second, a bending pressure with several bending angles.The time response was graphed for both cases.Furthermore, the effect of oxygen plasma on the nanorods structure was analyzed by the SEM, Raman spectroscope and nanometer.