Giant piezoresistive response in zinc-polydimethylsiloxane composites under uniaxial pressure

摘要

Investigations on the piezoresistive response of composites containing zinc conductive fillers at different concentrations in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer matrix are presented here. The composites remain insulating even at high filler concentrations. The piezoresistive behaviour of the Zn-PDMS composites under uniaxial pressure shows the resistivity changes by approximately seven orders of magnitude around 4 MPa pressure. We find that the piezoresistive behaviour of the Zn-PDMS composites can be explained in the framework of electron tunnelling between the metal particles.