Graphene and its derivatives include graphene oxide (oxygenated graphene), graphane (hydrogenated graphene), and fluorographene (fluorinated graphene). Compounding on these properties, graphene’s chemical and physical stability has led to numerous applications, including nanoelectronics, biomedical applications such as biosensors, antibacterial, drug delivery, cell imaging, tissue engineering, and energy storage applications in batteries 5, 6. Graphene-a single-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice 1-has gained considerable attention due to its exceptional mechanical 2, electrical 3, and thermal properties 4. We envision that the proposed electron-tunneling model for conductive 3D-printed structures with thermal expansion and external strain will lead to an evolution in the design of next-generation of ‘on-demand’ printed electronic and electromechanical devices. This corresponds to a sensitivity of 2.59 Ω/Ω%, which compares well with other tensile gauges. Furthermore, a mechanical strain that increases the electron-tunneling width between graphene nanostructures (~ 38 nm) by only 0.19 Ǻ reduces the electron flux by 1e/s/nm 2 (from 18.51 to 19.51 e/s/nm 2) through the polylactic acid junctions in the 3D-printed heterostructure. The electronic transport in the graphene/polymer 3D printed structure exhibited the Fowler Nordheim mechanism with a tunneling width of 0.79–0.95 nm and graphene centers having a carrier concentration of 2.66 × 10 12/cm 2. Here we show controlled nozzle-extrusion based 3D printing of a commercially available nano-composite of graphene/polylactic acid, enabling the fabrication of a tensile gauge functioning via the readjustment of the electron-tunneling barrier width between conductive graphene-centers. Designing 3D printed micro-architectures using electronic materials with well-understood electronic transport within such structures will potentially lead to accessible device fabrication for ‘on-demand’ applications.
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