Geometrical and thermal influences on a bacterial cellulose-based sensing element for acceleration measurements

The need for a sustainable economy necessitates new environmentally friendly production technologies as well as devices that can be easily recycled, disposed of, and, finally, degraded, without any release of pollutants to the environment. In this context, bacterial cellulose (BC) has recently been investigated as an intriguing solution for the creation of green motion sensors. BC has excellent mechanical properties, and it is fully biodegradable and greener than the more common plant-derived cellulose. In this paper, we investigate the influence of geometry and environmental temperature on BC-based sensing elements. More specifically, the influence of these quantities on a previously investigated BC-based accelerometer are reported. An experimental campaign and the characterization of the proposed green device for several geometries (from 7 to 22 mm of length) and various temperatures (from 5 °C to 55 °C) is addressed, obtaining very intriguing results.