{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,1]],"date-time":"2026-05-01T04:21:39Z","timestamp":1777609299980,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,31]],"date-time":"2021-08-31T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1630368000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The addition of piezoelectric zinc oxide (ZnO) fillers into a flexible polymer matrix has emerged as potential piezocomposite materials that can be used for applications such as energy harvesters and pressure sensors. A simple approach for the fabrication of PDMS-ZnO piezoelectric nanocomposites based on two ZnO fillers: nanoparticles (NP) and nanoflowers (NF) is presented in this paper. The effect of the ZnO fillers\u2019 geometry and size on the thermal, mechanical and piezoelectric properties is discussed. The sensors were fabricated in a sandwich-like structure using aluminium (Al) thin films as top and bottom electrodes. Piezocomposites at a concentration of 10% w\/w showed good flexibility, generating a piezoelectric response under compression force. The NF piezocomposites showed the highest piezoelectric response compared to the NP piezocomposites due to their geometric connectivity. The piezoelectric compound NF generated 4.2 V while the NP generated 1.86 V under around 36 kPa pressure. The data also show that the generated voltage increases with increasing applied force regardless of the type of filler.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21175873","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,31]],"date-time":"2021-08-31T22:58:15Z","timestamp":1630450695000},"page":"5873","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":75,"title":["PDMS-ZnO Piezoelectric Nanocomposites for Pressure Sensors"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1265-5982","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Karina","family":"Jeronimo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Sanderson Building, Robert Stevenson Road, The King\u2019s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2203-8179","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vasileios","family":"Koutsos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Sanderson Building, Robert Stevenson Road, The King\u2019s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2656-5646","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rebecca","family":"Cheung","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Sanderson Building, Robert Stevenson Road, The King\u2019s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, UK"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7841-1892","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Enrico","family":"Mastropaolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Engineering, The University of Edinburgh, Sanderson Building, Robert Stevenson Road, The King\u2019s Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, UK"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,31]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"228","DOI":"10.1007\/s10853-010-4940-3","article-title":"Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle-Polymeric Thin Films for Dynamic Strain Sensing","volume":"46","author":"Loh","year":"2011","journal-title":"J. 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