Yu, Junbin, Hou, Xiaojuan, Cui, Min, Zhang, Shengnan, He, Jian, Geng, Wenping, Mu, Jiliang, and Chou, Xiujian
Highly skin-conformal wearable tactile sensors with high sensitivity and wide measurement range are promising for physiological signal monitoring, personalized recognition and human-machine interaction. In this paper, we report a hybrid piezoelectric-triboelectric sensor (HPTS) primarily composed of polarized micro-frustum-arrays structure lead-zirconate-titanate and polydimethylsiloxane (PZT&PDMS) composite film (m-PZT&PDMS) and m-Cu film, which can simultaneously generate the coupling of piezoelectric effect and triboelectrification by the contact-separation working mode. Combining the hybrid effect, micro-frustum-arrays structure and high piezoelectric constant material, the HPTS presents excellent sensitivity and wide measurement range. The HPTS can reach a sensitivity of 15.43 V/kPa when triboelectric effect performs in the pressure of 0 kPa–100 kPa, and 18.96 V/kPa when both the piezoelectric and triboelectric effects work in the pressure range of 100 kPa–800 kPa. In addition, the HPTS is largely based on the PZT&PDMS film being directly in contact with the skin, showing excellent skin-conformal characteristic. It also demonstrates good linearity, fast response time and high stability. These characteristics are attractive for sensing radial artery wave, monitoring the slide and touch of a finger, and detecting the strong pressure of limb movement. Hence, this work provides a new strategy by applying a highly skin-conformal piezoelectric-enhanced triboelectric nanogenerator with high sensitivity and wide measurement range as a wearable tactile sensor, exhibiting immense potential in medical research, personalized recognition and human-machine interaction. Based on the contact-separation working mode, the highly skin-conformal piezoelectric-enhanced triboelectric nanogenerator was fabricated with excellent sensitivity (18.96 V/kPa) and wide measurement range (0 kPa–1300 kPa), which presents immense potential in medical research, personalized recognition and human-machine interaction. Image 1 • Due to the use of m-PZT&PDMS film as the main body, the HPTS is able to provide more conformal and comfortable contact with irregular human skin and withstand complex deformations. • The developed hybrid nanogenerator has high flexibility, excellent sensitivity and wide measurement range. • The polarized m-PZT&PDMS film exhibits excellent output performance because the high piezoelectric modulus of PZT nanofibers, high weight ratio of PZT to PDMS and the optimized polarization parameters. • The highly-conformal HPTS shows the high sensitivity (18.96 V/kPa) and wide measurement range (0 kPa–1,300 kPa) to reliably and simultaneously detect weak and strong external forces in real-time, such as pulse waves and body movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]