Peddathimula Puneetha1,§, Siva Pratap Reddy Mallem2,3,§, Sung Cheol Park2, Seoha Kim2, Dong Hun Heo2, Cheol Min Kim2, Jaesool Shim4, Sung Jin An5(), Dong-Yeon Lee1(), Kwi-Il Park2()
Department of Robotics and Intelligent Machine Engineering/College of Mechanical and IT Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
School of Materials Science and Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Advanced Material Research Center, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Gumi 39177, Republic of Korea
School of Mechanical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Gumi 39177, Republic of Korea
§ Peddathimula Puneetha and Siva Pratap Reddy Mallem contributed equally to this work.
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Graphical Abstract
An extremely lightweight ultra-flexible fiber-shaped polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/graphene/nylon (F-PGN) sensor is fabricated using PDMS/graphene/nylon material with a diameter of 0.51 mm, based on piezoresistive and triboelectric principles, for multifunctional applications. This piezoresistive-based robotic-hand-controlled sensor exhibits response and recovery times of 120 and 55 ms (fast recovery), respectively. The triboelectricbased human finger sensor can operate under various bending modes at specific angles.
Abstract
The development of flexible and wearable devices is mainly required for tactile sensing; as such devices can adapt to complicated nonuniform surfaces, they can be applied to the human body. Nevertheless, it remains necessary to simultaneously achieve small-scale, portable, and stable developments in such devices. Thus, this work aims at fabricating a novel, lightweight, ultra-flexible, and fiber-shaped coaxial structure with a diameter of 0.51 mm using polydimethylsiloxane/graphene/nylon material, based on piezoresistive and triboelectric principles. The piezoresistive-based robotic-hand-controlled sensor thus realized exhibits a response time of 120 ms and a fast recovery time of 55 ms. Further, the piezoresistive-based sensors effectively feature whisker/joystick-guided behaviors and also sense the human finger contact. Owing to the triboelectric-based self-powered nanogenerator behavior, the resulting sensor can convert mechanical motion into electrical energy, without adversely affecting human organs. Moreover, this triboelectric-based human finger sensor can be operated under different bending modes at specific angles. Notably, this multifunctional sensor is cost-effective and suitable for various applications, including robotic-hand-controlled operations in medical surgery, whisker/joystick motions in lightweight drone technology, and navigation with high-sensitivity components.
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