Abstract
Piezoelectric sensors with high performance and low-to-zero power consumption meet the growing demand in the flexible microelectronic system with small size and low power consumption, which are promising in robotics and prosthetics, wearable devices and electronic skin. In this review, the development process, application scenarios and typical cases are discussed. In addition, several strategies to improve the performance of piezoelectric sensors are summed up: (1) material innovation: from piezoelectric semiconductor materials, inorganic piezoceramic materials, organic piezoelectric polymer, nanocomposite materials, to emerging and promising molecular ferroelectric materials. (2) designing microstructures on the surface of the piezoelectric materials to enlarge the contact area of piezoelectric materials under the applied force. (3) addition of dopants such as chemical elements and graphene in conventional piezoelectric materials. (4) developing piezoelectric transistors based on piezotronic effect. In addition, the principle, advantages, disadvantages and challenges of every strategy are discussed. Apart from that, the prospects and directions of piezoelectric sensors are predicted. In the future, the electronic sensors need to be embedded in the microelectronic systems to play the full part. Therefore, a strategy based on peripheral circuits to improve the performance of piezoelectric sensors is proposed in the final part of this review.
Highlights
A notable technical trend today is the rapid growth of portable and wearable electronics for applications in personal health care, environmental monitoring and entertainment equipment [1,2].As the only functional device for data acquisition, sensors have a crucial effect on the performance of the portable and wearable electronics
The research and development of high-performance sensors based on piezoelectric materials with high sensitivity, wide sensing range, fast response, flexibility and low-to-zero power consumption has a great significance for flexible microelectronic system
In this review, several common strategies to improve the performance of sensors based on piezoelectric materials are summarized, including material innovation, from widely investigated and used piezoelectric semiconductor materials, inorganic piezoceramic materials, organic piezoelectric polymers, nanocomposite materials, to emerging and promising molecular ferroelectric materials with both high piezoelectricity and flexibility; designing microstructures on the surface of the piezoelectric materials to improve the contact area of piezoelectric materials under the applied pressure; the addition of dopants such as chemical elements and graphene in conventional piezoelectric materials; and developing piezoelectric transistors based on piezotronic effect as piezoelectric sensors (Figure 2)
Summary
A notable technical trend today is the rapid growth of portable and wearable electronics for applications in personal health care, environmental monitoring and entertainment equipment [1,2]. (c) A 1-D force sensor based on PVDF and macro-fiber composite (MFC) films was applied to Copyright from Elsevier. The research and development of high-performance sensors based on piezoelectric materials with high sensitivity, wide sensing range, fast response, flexibility and low-to-zero power consumption has a great significance for flexible microelectronic system. In this review, several common strategies to improve the performance of sensors based on piezoelectric materials are summarized, including material innovation, from widely investigated and used piezoelectric semiconductor materials, inorganic piezoceramic materials, organic piezoelectric polymers, nanocomposite materials, to emerging and promising molecular ferroelectric materials with both high piezoelectricity and flexibility; designing microstructures on the surface of the piezoelectric materials to improve the contact area of piezoelectric materials under the applied pressure; the addition of dopants such as chemical elements and graphene in conventional piezoelectric materials; and developing piezoelectric transistors based on piezotronic effect as piezoelectric sensors (Figure 2).
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