Microstructured Droplet Based Porous Capacitive Pressure Sensor

Abstract

Devices that imitate the functions of human skin are known as “electronic skin,” and they must have characteristics like high sensitivity, a wide dynamic range, high spatial homogeneity, cheap cost, wide area easy processing, and the ability to distinguish between diverse external inputs. Here, we describe a flexible droplet-based microfluidic-assisted emulsion self-assembly (DMESA) method for producing highly efficient capacitive pressure sensors based on three-dimensional microstructures for electronic skin applications. Our method may produce evenly sized micropores that self-assemble across a vast area in an ordered close-packed manner, leading to excellent spatial homogeneity. Dynamic amplitude and sensitivity were readily regulated to as high as 0.62 kPa <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> and up to 100 kPa by adjusting the micropore size, which can be simply adjusted from 100 to 600 µm. Our gadget may be molded into a variety of forms and printed on curved surfaces. These examples show how our method and sensors may be used for a broad range of e-skin applications.