Bioinspired and bristled microparticles for ultrasensitive pressure and strain sensors

Abstract

Biological sensory organelles are often structurally optimized for high sensitivity. Tactile hairs or bristles are ubiquitous mechanosensory organelles in insects. The bristle features a tapering spine that not only serves as a lever arm to promote signal transduction, but also a clever design to protect it from mechanical breaking. A hierarchical distribution over the body further improves the signal detection from all directions. We mimic these features by using synthetic zinc oxide microparticles, each having spherically-distributed, high-aspect-ratio, and high-density nanostructured spines resembling biological bristles. Sensors based on thin films assembled from these microparticles achieve static-pressure detection down to 0.015 Pa, sensitivity up to 121 kPa−1, and a strain gauge factor >104, showing supreme overall performance. Other properties including a robust cyclability >2000, fast response time ~7 ms, and low-temperature synthesis compatible to various integrations further indicate the potential of this sensor technology in applying to wearable technologies and human interfaces.

Fabrication and Patterning Methods of Flexible Sensors Using Carbon Nanomaterials on Polymers

“…Similarly, highly sensitive pressure sensors allow measurement of the contact pressure developed across a specific area containing the sensor, such as palm or fingers. This is accomplished with tactile sensing arrays of individually addressable electrodes (Figure f) …”

“…Flexible sensors are especially suited for novel applications in healthcare, which are represented by noninvasive, measurement and real‐time monitoring of biophysical and biochemical signals from the human body, such as wrist pulse monitoring, strain measurement, humidity measurement, vibration detection, touch and pressure measurement, electrochemical detection, body temperature measurement, and many others. Table shows the flexible sensors, materials used, their performance, and applications.…”

“…Copyright 2019, Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. f) Pressure measurement. Reproduced under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License . Copyright 2018, The Author(s).…”

High‐Performance Flexible Tactile Sensor Enabling Intelligent Haptic Perception for a Soft Prosthetic Hand

“…Recently, benefited from the development of material science and manufacturing, many flexible tactile sensors have been realized based on different transduction mechanisms including capacitance, piezoelectricity, resistance, and triboelectricity . To increase the sensitivity of the sensor, microstructure have been introduced in many researches, such as pyramid, hemispheres, and micropillar .…”

“…The flexible piezoresistive sensors have been widely studied because of the simple structure and manufacturing process. Besides acting as the pressure sensor, many of them could be used in body motion sensing . Despite the wide applications these sensors have, they lack the ability to distinguish the stimulation from the force out of and in the plane.…”