Skin-inspired highly stretchable and conformable matrix networks for multifunctional sensing

Qilin Hua,Rongrong Bao,Haitao Liu,Caofeng Pan,Zhong Lin Wang,Junyi Zhai,Junlu Sun,Ruomeng Yu

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-02685-9

Abstract

Mechanosensation electronics (or Electronic skin, e-skin) consists of mechanically flexible and stretchable sensor networks that can detect and quantify various stimuli to mimic the human somatosensory system, with the sensations of touch, heat/cold, and pain in skin through various sensory receptors and neural pathways. Here we present a skin-inspired highly stretchable and conformable matrix network (SCMN) that successfully expands the e-skin sensing functionality including but not limited to temperature, in-plane strain, humidity, light, magnetic field, pressure, and proximity. The actualized specific expandable sensor units integrated on a structured polyimide network, potentially in three-dimensional (3D) integration scheme, can also fulfill simultaneous multi-stimulus sensing and achieve an adjustable sensing range and large-area expandability. We further construct a personalized intelligent prosthesis and demonstrate its use in real-time spatial pressure mapping and temperature estimation. Looking forward, this SCMN has broader applications in humanoid robotics, new prosthetics, human–machine interfaces, and health-monitoring technologies.

Highlights

Mechanosensation electronics consists of mechanically flexible and stretchable sensor networks that can detect and quantify various stimuli to mimic the human somatosensory system, with the sensations of touch, heat/cold, and pain in skin through various sensory receptors and neural pathways
E-skin, which is capable of sensing different stimuli, is likely to boost emergence of the Internet of ‘actions’ (IoA), as we suppose, which would be a new era of health care, medical science, and robotics
Skin-inspired highly stretchable and conformable matrix networks have been fabricated that integrate temperature, strain

Summary

Introduction

Mechanosensation electronics (or Electronic skin, e-skin) consists of mechanically flexible and stretchable sensor networks that can detect and quantify various stimuli to mimic the human somatosensory system, with the sensations of touch, heat/cold, and pain in skin through various sensory receptors and neural pathways. Consisting of mechanically flexible and stretchable sensor networks, mechanosensation electronics (electronic skin, e-skin)[1,2,3,4,5,6] has been developed to mimic the human somatosensory system by detecting and quantifying various stimuli in the ambient environment and have attracted tremendous attention for their revolutionary applications in robotics[7,8], prosthetics[4,9,10], and health-monitoring technologies[3,11,12]. We present a skin-inspired highly stretchable and conformable matrix network (SCMN) as a multi-sensory e-skin that is capable of detecting temperature, in-plane strain, relative humidity (RH), ultraviolet (UV) light, magnetic field, pressure, and proximity provides to realize simultaneous multi-stimulus sensing and exhibits an adjustable sensing range and large-area expandability, as well as potentially suitable for high-density three-dimensional (3D) integration scheme.

Methods

Results

Conclusion