Approaching the limit of electromechanical performance in mixed-phase nanocomposites

Electrically conductive polymer-based nanocomposites have displayed excellent performances when applied as strain sensors for bodily monitoring. Among the most common forms of these systems is the mixed-phased nanocomposite. Through a simple model that combines electromechanical and percolation theory, it is reported here that in comparative systems, two-dimensional nanofillers exhibit a larger electromechanical response than their one-dimensional counterparts. For both nanofiller types, the electromechanical response was found to increase greatly with the aspect ratio and when shifting from an isotropic to anisotropic system. Furthermore, nanocomposites with bulk dimensions intrinsically outperform thinner systems theorized to be based on ink-printing production methods.