Characteristic and sensitivity of Quantum Tunneling Composite (QTC) material for tactile device applications

This paper investigates the used of Quantum Tunneling Composite (QTC) Pill as a tactile sensor material for general tactile device application. The QTC Pill can be considered as soft, flexible material and has extraordinary electrical properties. It has capability of turning into a remarkable material for new era sensor. The piezoresistive experimental test of QTC Pill was performed to determine their resistivity characteristics and to evaluate the suitability of QTC Pills as tactile sensors. The experiments were conducted based on the sensitivity of the QTC Pill. The shows that, the QTC Pill was a perfect insulator as well as an extremely good conductor. This has been observed through resistance versus force (R vs F) investigation in which an exponential curve was obtained. This is coherent with the hypothesis of quantum tunneling charge transport within the polymer `assisted' quantum tunneling. The hypothesis is further supported by comparing and contrasting current versus voltage (I vs V) curves. At intermediate pressure, QTC Pill exhibits a clearly not linear hysteric behaviour and current fluctuations. These characteristic features can be related to QTC Pill specific structure and electron quantum tunneling. Based on this investigation, QTC pill are suitable to be used as a material for general tactile device application and can be used as a guideline when designing a tactile sensor with this material.