Highly Sensitive and Ultrastable Skin Sensors for Biopressure and Bioforce Measurements Based on Hierarchical Microstructures

Piezoresistive microsensors are considered to be essential components of the future wearable electronic devices. However, the expensive cost, complex fabrication technology, poor stability, and low yield have limited their developments for practical applications. Here, we present a cost-effective, r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:ACS applied materials & interfaces 2018-01, Vol.10 (4), p.4086-4094
Main Authors: Sun, Qi-Jun, Zhuang, Jiaqing, Venkatesh, Shishir, Zhou, Ye, Han, Su-Ting, Wu, Wei, Kong, Ka-Wai, Li, Wen-Jung, Chen, Xianfeng, Li, Robert K. Y, Roy, Vellaisamy A. L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Graphite
Humans
Motion
Skin
Touch
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Summary:Piezoresistive microsensors are considered to be essential components of the future wearable electronic devices. However, the expensive cost, complex fabrication technology, poor stability, and low yield have limited their developments for practical applications. Here, we present a cost-effective, relatively simple, and high-yield fabrication approach to construct highly sensitive and ultrastable piezoresistive sensors using a bioinspired hierarchically structured graphite/polydimethylsiloxane composite as the active layer. In this fabrication, a commercially available sandpaper is employed as the mold to develop the hierarchical structure. Our devices exhibit fascinating performance including an ultrahigh sensitivity (64.3 kPa–1), fast response time (100 000 cycles), and high ambient stability (>1 year). The applications of these devices in sensing radial artery pulses, acoustic vibrations, and human body motion are demonstrated, exhibiting their enormous potential use in real-time healthcare monitoring and robotic tactile sensing.
ISSN:1944-8244
1944-8252
DOI:10.1021/acsami.7b16611