Electrical Characterization of Strain Effects on Bacterial Nanocellulose Treated with Carbon Nanoparticles

This paper reports the strain sensitivity of flexible, electrically conductive nanostructuredcellulose which was prepared by modification of bacterial cellulose with double-walled carbonnanotubes (DWCNT) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT). The electrical conductivitydepends on the modifying agent and its dispersion process. The conductivity of the samplesobtained from bacterial cellulose (BNC) pellicles modified with DWCNT was in the range from0.034 S·cm-1to 0.15 S·cm-1and for BNC pellicles modified with MWCNT it was from 0.12S·cm-1to 1.6 S·cm-1.The strain induced electromechanical response, resistance vs strain, was monitored during theapplication of tensile force in order to study the sensitivity of the modified nanocellulose. Amaximum gauge factor of 147 was found from highest conductive sample treated by MWCNT. Ithas been observed that the sensitivity of the sample depends on the conductivity of the modifiedcellulose.