Capacitive pressure sensors based on bioinspired structured electrode for human-machine interaction applications

Dakai Wang; Bo Li; Zhichao Ma; Changchao Zhang; Linpeng Liu; Shichao Niu; Zhiwu Han; Luquan Ren

doi:10.1016/j.bios.2024.117086

Capacitive pressure sensors based on bioinspired structured electrode for human-machine interaction applications

Biosens Bioelectron. 2024 Dec 21:271:117086. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2024.117086. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Dakai Wang¹, Bo Li², Zhichao Ma³, Changchao Zhang¹, Linpeng Liu⁴, Shichao Niu⁵, Zhiwu Han⁵, Luquan Ren⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education), Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, China.
² Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education), Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, China; The National Key Laboratory of Automotive Chassis Integration and Bionics (ACIB), College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, China. Electronic address: boli@jlu.edu.cn.
³ School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, China; Institute of Structured and Architected Materials, Liaoning Academy of Materials, Shenyang, 110167, China.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, 999077, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering (Ministry of Education), Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, 130022, China; The National Key Laboratory of Automotive Chassis Integration and Bionics (ACIB), College of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130022, China; Institute of Structured and Architected Materials, Liaoning Academy of Materials, Shenyang, 110167, China.

PMID: 39721466
DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2024.117086

Abstract

Flexible pressure sensor is a crucial component of tactile sensors and plays an integral role in numerous significant fields. Despite the considerable effort put forth, how to further improve sensitivity with ingenious yet easy-to-manufacture structures and apply them to emerging fields such as structure/materials recognition, human motion monitoring, and human-machine interaction remains a challenge. Here, we develop a highly sensitive flexible capacitive pressure sensor featuring a structured electrode layer with embedded microcracks and a dielectric layer with micro-convex structures, which are combined with an iontronic interface. The sophisticated design endows the sensor with superior perceptual performance, showing a relatively linear sensitivity of 1613 kPa^-1 in the range of 50 kPa and a detection limit of ∼6.7 Pa. Due to its excellent sensing capabilities, the sensors have been demonstrated for microstructure/material stiffness recognition and human motion monitoring. Furthermore, by integrating a single sensor with an inertial unit, the sensor gains the capability to output multiple sets of instructions. This work provides innovative design inspiration for flexible electronics.

Keywords: Bioinspired design; Crack and convex structures; Human-machine interaction; Pressure sensors; Scorpion.