Shear thickening and charge-storing interlayer-based all-aerosol-sprayed wearable triboelectric sensor for industrial wireless human-machine interfaces

Abstract

In harsh factory environment, achieving design and deployment of wearable sensor is challenging for foundation of industrial internet of things (IoT) systems. Herein, we introduce an all-aerosol-sprayed impact-resistant wearable triboelectric sensor (SC-WTS) that integrates SiO2 nanoparticle-based shear thickening and a charge-storing (SC) interlayer. This interlayer synergistically enhances both anti-impact and self-powered sensing performances, enabling precise detection with a wide pressure range of 0.25–10 kPa, outstanding linearity of 0.96, and high sensitivity of 21.1 V/kPa. Fabricated using an all-aerosol-spray process, the SC-WTS is highly adaptable to diverse wearable substrates, including Kevlar, leather, and plastic plates, and exhibits excellent impact resistance against low-velocity impacts. By conjugating the in-situ fabrication, outstanding self-powered sensing performance, and superior anti-impact performance, a real-time safety monitoring IIoT system was developed utilizing an industrial wireless server network and open platform communications unified architecture. The system enables supervisors to detect industrial collisions and emergency messages in real time through the triboelectric signals generated by the SC-WTS module, which is embedded in safety clothes of onsite workers. This work provides the practical concept of a WTS based on an SC interlayer with excellent anti-impact and self-powered sensing performance for wireless human-machine interfaces under extreme conditions at industrial sites.