Pencil-on-Paper Capacitors for Hand-Drawn RC Circuits and Capacitive Sensing

Electronic capacitors were constructed via hand-printing on paper using pencil graphite. Graphite traces were used to draw conductive connections and capacitor plates on opposing sides of a sheet of standard notebook paper. The paper served as the dielectric separating the plates. Capacitance of the...

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Main Author: Jonathan E. Thompson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017-01-01
Series:Journal of Chemistry
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/4909327
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author Jonathan E. Thompson
author_facet Jonathan E. Thompson
author_sort Jonathan E. Thompson
collection DOAJ
description Electronic capacitors were constructed via hand-printing on paper using pencil graphite. Graphite traces were used to draw conductive connections and capacitor plates on opposing sides of a sheet of standard notebook paper. The paper served as the dielectric separating the plates. Capacitance of the devices was generally < 1000 pF and scaled with surface area of the plate electrodes. By combining a pencil-drawn capacitor with an additional resistive pencil trace, an RC low-pass filter was demonstrated. Further utility of the pencil-on-paper devices was demonstrated through description of a capacitive force transducer and reversible chemical sensing. The latter was achieved for water vapor when the hygroscopic cellulose matrix of the paper capacitor’s dielectric adsorbed water. The construction and demonstration of pencil-on-paper capacitive elements broadens the scope of paper-based electronic circuits while allowing new opportunities in the rapidly expanding field of paper-based sensors.
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spelling doaj-art-2455864b6ee541f295a612913828ff442025-02-03T05:51:07ZengWileyJournal of Chemistry2090-90632090-90712017-01-01201710.1155/2017/49093274909327Pencil-on-Paper Capacitors for Hand-Drawn RC Circuits and Capacitive SensingJonathan E. Thompson0Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, MS 1061, Lubbock, TX 79409-1061, USAElectronic capacitors were constructed via hand-printing on paper using pencil graphite. Graphite traces were used to draw conductive connections and capacitor plates on opposing sides of a sheet of standard notebook paper. The paper served as the dielectric separating the plates. Capacitance of the devices was generally < 1000 pF and scaled with surface area of the plate electrodes. By combining a pencil-drawn capacitor with an additional resistive pencil trace, an RC low-pass filter was demonstrated. Further utility of the pencil-on-paper devices was demonstrated through description of a capacitive force transducer and reversible chemical sensing. The latter was achieved for water vapor when the hygroscopic cellulose matrix of the paper capacitor’s dielectric adsorbed water. The construction and demonstration of pencil-on-paper capacitive elements broadens the scope of paper-based electronic circuits while allowing new opportunities in the rapidly expanding field of paper-based sensors.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/4909327
spellingShingle Jonathan E. Thompson
Pencil-on-Paper Capacitors for Hand-Drawn RC Circuits and Capacitive Sensing
Journal of Chemistry
title Pencil-on-Paper Capacitors for Hand-Drawn RC Circuits and Capacitive Sensing
title_full Pencil-on-Paper Capacitors for Hand-Drawn RC Circuits and Capacitive Sensing
title_fullStr Pencil-on-Paper Capacitors for Hand-Drawn RC Circuits and Capacitive Sensing
title_full_unstemmed Pencil-on-Paper Capacitors for Hand-Drawn RC Circuits and Capacitive Sensing
title_short Pencil-on-Paper Capacitors for Hand-Drawn RC Circuits and Capacitive Sensing
title_sort pencil on paper capacitors for hand drawn rc circuits and capacitive sensing
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2017/4909327
work_keys_str_mv AT jonathanethompson pencilonpapercapacitorsforhanddrawnrccircuitsandcapacitivesensing