Tactile sensors with both temperature- and pressure-responsive
capabilities are critical to enabling future smart artificial intelligence.
These sensors can mimic haptic functions of human skin and inevitably
suffer from tensile deformation during operation. However, almost
all actual multifunctional tactile sensors are either nonstretchable
or the sensing signals interfere with each other when stretched. Herein,
we propose a stretchable and self-powered temperature–pressure
dual functional sensor based on thermogalvanic hydrogels. The sensor
operates properly under stretching, which relies on the thermogalvanic
effect and constant elastic modulus of hydrogels. The thermogalvanic
hydrogel elastomer exhibits an equivalent Seebeck coefficient of −1.21
mV K–1 and a pressure sensitivity of 0.056 kPa–1. Combined with unit array integration, the multifunctional
sensor can be used for accurately recording tactile information on
human skin and spatial perception. This work provides a conceptual
framework and systematic design for stretchable artificial skin, interactive
wearables, and smart robots.
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