Abstract
High‐performance biodegradable electronic devices are being investigated to address the global electronic waste problem. In this work, a fully biodegradable ferroelectric nanogenerator‐driven skin sensor with ultrasensitive bimodal sensing capability based on edible porcine skin gelatine is demonstrated. The microstructure and molecular engineering of gelatine induces polarization confinement that gives rise the ferroelectric properties, resulting in a piezoelectric coefficient (d 33) of ≈24 pC N−1 and pyroelectric coefficient of ≈13 µC m−2K−1, which are 6 and 11.8 times higher, respectively, than those of the conventional planar gelatine. The ferroelectric gelatine skin sensor has exceptionally high pressure sensitivity (≈41 mV Pa−1) and the lowest detection limit of pressure (≈0.005 Pa) and temperature (≈0.04 K) ever reported for ferroelectric sensors. In proof‐of‐concept tests, this device is able to sense the spatially resolved pressure, temperature, and surface texture of an unknown object, demonstrating potential for robotic skins and wearable electronics with zero waste footprint.
Highlights
High-performance biodegradable electronic devices are being investigated to hazardous components, even the recycling of these materials contaminates ecosystems address the global electronic waste problem
With the aim of producing sustainable and eco-friendly electronic devices without any e-waste footprint, we demonstrated a fully www.advancedscience.com biodegradable and ferroelectric gelatine e-skin nanogenerator with the ability to simultaneously sense temperature, pressure, and surface texture variations
We showed that the physically confined gelatine within the interlocked microdome structure significantly enhanced the polarization and ferroelectric properties
Summary
Owing to the lower potential barrier at the interface, interlocked gelatine devices have significantly higher sensitivity, under low pressure and temperature variations, than that of planar devices, where no such polarization gradient or confinement effects occur. The non-linear variation in output response is attributed to the pressure-induced hardening of gelatine with the reversible coil-helix transition, where mechanical strain was non-linearly generated under compressive stress (Figure S27, Note S4, Supporting Information).[57] Importantly, the stable piezoelectric output response over 2 months without any significant degradation (Figure S28, Supporting Information) proves the reliability of the interlocked nanogenerator for e-skin applications. Using this formula, we can identify the pressure and temperature of an unknown object in contact with the e-skin nanogenerator
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