Skin-Inspired Highly Sensitive Tactile Sensors with Ultrahigh Resolution over a Broad Sensing Range

Flexible tactile sensors with high sensitivity, a broadpressuredetection range, and high resolution are highly desired for the applicationsof health monitoring, robots, and the human-machine interface.However, it is still challenging to realize a tactile sensor withhigh sensitivity and resolution over a wide detection range. Herein,to solve the abovementioned problem, we demonstrate a universal routeto develop a highly sensitive tactile sensor with high resolutionand a wide pressure range. The tactile sensor is composed of two layersof microstructured flexible electrodes with high modulus and conductivecotton fabric with low modulus. By optimizing the sensing films, thefabricated tactile sensor shows a high sensitivity of 8.9 x 10(4) kPa(-1) from 2 Pa to 250 kPa because of thehigh structural compressibility and stress adaptation of the multilayeredcomposite films. Meanwhile, a fast response speed of 18 ms, an ultrahighresolution of 100 Pa over 100 kPa, and excellent durability over 20000 loading/unloading cycles are demonstrated. Moreover, a 6 x6 tactile sensor array is fabricated and shows promising potentialapplication in electronic skin (e-skin). Therefore, employing multilayeredcomposite films for tactile sensors is a novel strategy to achievehigh-performance tactile perception in real-time health monitoringand artificial intelligence.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates a method to fabricate a flexible tactile sensor with high sensitivity, high resolution, and a wide pressure detection range. The sensor consists of two layers of microstructured flexible electrodes with high modulus and conductive cotton fabric with low modulus. It shows high sensitivity, fast response speed, and excellent durability. The fabrication of a tactile sensor array also shows potential in electronic skin applications.