Unprecedented sensitivity towards pressure enabled by graphene foam

3D Printing of Anisotropic Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors for Directional Force Perception

Anisotropic pressure sensors are gaining increasing attention for next-generation wearable electronics and intelligent infrastructure owing to their sensitivity in identifying different directional forces. 3D printing technologies have unparalleled advantages in the design of anisotropic pressure sensors with customized 3D structures for realizing tunable anisotropy. 3D printing has demonstrated few successes in utilizing piezoelectric nanocomposites for anisotropic recognition. However, 3D-printed anisotropic piezoresistive pressure sensors (PPSs) remain unexplored despite their convenience in saving the poling process. This study pioneers the development of an aqueous printable ink containing waterborne polyurethane elastomer. An anisotropic PPS featuring tailorable flexibility in macroscopic 3D structures and microscopic pore morphologies is created by adopting direct ink writing 3D printing technology. Consequently, the desired directional force perception is achieved by programming the printing schemes. Notably, the printed PPS demonstrated excellent deformability, with a relative sensitivity of 1.22 (kPa*wt. %)-1 over a substantial pressure range (2.8 to 8.1 kPa), approximately fivefold than that of a state-of-the-art carbon-based PPS. This study underscores the versatility of 3D printing in customizing highly sensitive anisotropic pressure sensors for advanced sensing applications that are difficult to achieve using conventional measures.

Coaxial Graphene/MXene Microfibers with Interfacial Buffer-Based Lightweight Distance Sensors Assisting Lossless Grasping of Fragile and Deformable Objects

Lossless and efficient robotic grasping is becoming increasingly important with the widespread application of intelligent robotics in warehouse transportation, human healthcare, and domestic services. However, current sensors for feedback of grasping behavior are greatly restricted by high manufacturing cost, large volume and mass, complex circuit, and signal crosstalk. To solve these problems, here, we prepare lightweight distance sensor-based reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/MXene-rGO coaxial microfibers with interface buffer to assist lossless grasping of a robotic manipulator. The as-fabricated distance microsensor exhibits a high sensitivity of 91.2 m^-1 in the distance range of 50-300 μm, a fast response time of 116 ms, a high resolution of 5 μm, and good stability in 500 cycles. Furthermore, the high-performance and lightweight microsensor is installed on the robotic manipulator to reflect the grasp state by the displacement imposed on the sensor. By establishing the correlation between the microsensing signal and the grasp state, the safe, non-destructive, and effective grasp and release of the target can be achieved. The lightweight and high-powered distance sensor displays great application prospects in intelligent fetching, medical surgery, multi-spindle automatic machines, and cultural relics excavation.

Highly Sensitive Temperature-Pressure Bimodal Aerogel with Stimulus Discriminability for Human Physiological Monitoring

Multimodal sensor with high sensitivity, accurate sensing resolution, and stimuli discriminability is very desirable for human physiological state monitoring. A dual-sensing aerogel is fabricated with independent pyro-piezoresistive behavior by leveraging MXene and semicrystalline polymer to assemble shrinkable nanochannel structures inside multilevel cellular walls of aerogel for discriminable temperature and pressure sensing. The shrinkable nanochannels, controlled by the melt flow-triggered volume change of semicrystalline polymer, act as thermoresponsive conductive channels to endow the pyroresistive aerogel with negative temperature coefficient of resistance of -10.0% °C^-1 and high accuracy within 0.2 °C in human physiological temperature range of 30-40 °C. The flexible cellular walls, working as pressure-responsive conductive channels, enable the piezoresistive aerogel to exhibit a pressure sensitivity up to 777 kPa^-1 with a detectable pressure limit of 0.05 Pa. The pyro-piezoresistive aerogel can detect the temperature-dependent characteristics of pulse pressure waveforms from artery vessels under different human body temperature states.

Multifunctional Graphene Sensor Ensemble as a Smart Biomonitoring Fashion Accessory

Biomonitoring wearable sensors based on two-dimensional nanomaterials have recently elicited keen research interest and potential for a new range of flexible nanoelectronic devices. Practical nanomaterial-based devices suited for real-world service, which exhibit first-rate performance while being an attractive accessory, are still distant. We report a multifunctional flexible wearable sensor fabricated using an ultrathin percolative layer of graphene nanosheets on laser-patterned gold circular interdigitated electrodes for monitoring vital human physiological parameters. This graphene on laser-patterned electrode (GLE) sensor displays an excellent strain resolution of 245 με (0.024%) and a record high gauge factor of 6.3 × 10⁷, with exceptional stability and repeatability in its operating range. The sensor was tested for human physiological monitoring like measurement of heart rate, breathing rate, body temperature, and hydration level, which are vital health parameters, especially considering the current pandemic scenario. The sensor also served in applications such as a pedometer, limb movement tracker, and control switch for human interaction. The innovative laser-etch process used to pattern gold thin-film electrodes, with the multifunctional incognizable graphene layer, provides a technique for integrating multiple sensors in a wearable band. The reported work marks a giant leap from the conventional banal devices to a highly marketable multifunctional sensor array as a biomonitoring fashion accessory.

Recent Development of Flexible Tactile Sensors and Their Applications

With the rapid development of society in recent decades, the wearable sensor has attracted attention for motion-based health care and artificial applications. However, there are still many limitations to applying them in real life, particularly the inconvenience that comes from their large size and non-flexible systems. To solve these problems, flexible small-sized sensors that use body motion as a stimulus are studied to directly collect more accurate and diverse signals. In particular, tactile sensors are applied directly on the skin and provide input signals of motion change for the flexible reading device. This review provides information about different types of tactile sensors and their working mechanisms that are piezoresistive, piezocapacitive, piezoelectric, and triboelectric. Moreover, this review presents not only the applications of the tactile sensor in motion sensing and health care monitoring, but also their contributions in the field of artificial intelligence in recent years. Other applications, such as human behavior studies, are also suggested.

Reduced Graphene Oxide-Polypyrrole Aerogel-Based Coaxial Heterogeneous Microfiber Enables Ultrasensitive Pressure Monitoring of Living Organisms

Pressure sensors for living organisms can monitor both the movement behavior of the organism and pressure changes of the organ, and they have vast perspectives for the health management information platform and disease diagnostics/treatment through the micropressure changes of organs. Although pressure sensors have been widely integrated with e-skin or other wearable systems for health monitoring, they have not been approved for comprehensive surveillance and monitoring of living organisms due to their unsatisfied sensing performance. To solve the problem, here, we introduce a novel structural design strategy to manufacture reduced graphene oxide-polypyrrole aerogel-based microfibers with a typical coaxial heterogeneous structure, which significantly enhances the sensitivity, resolution, and stability of the derived pressure microsensors. The as-fabricated pressure microsensors exhibit ultrahigh sensitivities of 12.84, 18.27, and 4.46 kPa^-1 in the pressure ranges of 0-20, 20-40, and 40-65 Pa, respectively, high resolution (0.2 Pa), and good stability in 450 cycles. Furthermore, the microsensor is applied to detect the movement behavior and organic micropressure changes for mice and serves as a platform for monitoring micropressure for the integrative diagnosis both in vivo and in vitro of organisms.

CB Nanoparticles Optimized 3D Wearable Graphene Multifunctional Piezoresistive Sensor Framed by Loofah Sponge

Three-dimensional (3D) wearable piezoresistive sensors with excellent performance are urgently needed in many emerging fields. Herein, a hybrid piezoresistive sensor with 3D structure, which is framed by loofah sponge and coated with reduced graphene oxide modified with carbon black nanoparticles (rGO-CB@LS), was obtained via a facile solvothermal method. The ingenious use of loofah sponge (LS) provides a 3D highly ordered structure with excellent flexibility for the hybrid sensor, which assists the sensor free from the dependence on an organic substrate and eliminates the pollution to the environment. While the addition of carbon black (CB) nanoparticles can reduce the contact resistance between rGO sheets, improve the conductivity and sensitivity effectively, and shorten the response/recovery time of the sensor. An ultralight piezoresistive sensor, which is low cost and environmentally friendly, was obtained under the synergy of LS and rGO-CB, accompanied by high sensitivity and good stability. This novel sensor also exhibits excellent performance in detecting tiny and big human activities, demonstrating its great potential for a new generation of 3D wearable sensors.

Graphene Nanostructure-Based Tactile Sensors for Electronic Skin Applications

Skin is the largest organ of the human body and can perceive and respond to complex environmental stimulations. Recently, the development of electronic skin (E-skin) for the mimicry of the human sensory system has drawn great attention due to its potential applications in wearable human health monitoring and care systems, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence, and human-machine interfaces. Tactile sense is one of the most important senses of human skin that has attracted special attention. The ability to obtain unique functions using diverse assembly processible methods has rapidly advanced the use of graphene, the most celebrated two-dimensional material, in electronic tactile sensing devices. With a special emphasis on the works achieved since 2016, this review begins with the assembly and modification of graphene materials and then critically and comprehensively summarizes the most advanced material assembly methods, device construction technologies and signal characterization approaches in pressure and strain detection based on graphene and its derivative materials. This review emphasizes on: (1) the underlying working principles of these types of sensors and the unique roles and advantages of graphene materials; (2) state-of-the-art protocols recently developed for high-performance tactile sensing, including representative examples; and (3) perspectives and current challenges for graphene-based tactile sensors in E-skin applications. A summary of these cutting-edge developments intends to provide readers with a deep understanding of the future design of high-quality tactile sensing devices and paves a path for their future commercial applications in the field of E-skin.

A graphene-based smart thermal conductive system regulated by a reversible pressure-induced mechanism

Thermal dissipation and thermal insulation are important for maintaining the normal operation of devices, extending the service life of instruments, ensuring efficient energy utilization, and improving temperature-related human comfort. Yet it is difficult to achieve both the functions of thermal dissipation and thermal insulation in a single material with a specific thermal conductivity under specific conditions. In this work, based on the huge difference in thermal conductivity between air and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), a pressure-induced mechanism is used to regulate the amount of air inside an rGO foam, so that a periodic reversible change of thermal conductivity can be realized, achieving the dual functions of thermal dissipation and thermal insulation to meet the requirements of different application scenarios. Further fitting calculations suggest that the thermal conductivity of rGO foam is positively and negatively associated with the applied pressure and temperature, respectively, and it can be calculated for given pressure and temperature conditions. The pressure-induced reversible regulation of thermal conductivity in rGO foam provides a new design construct for smart thermal-management devices, and a new direction of application for 2D materials.

Recent Advances in Flexible and Wearable Pressure Sensors Based on Piezoresistive 3D Monolithic Conductive Sponges

High-performance flexible strain and pressure sensors are important components of the systems for human motion detection, human-machine interaction, soft robotics, electronic skin, etc., which are envisioned as the key technologies for applications in future human healthcare monitoring and artificial intelligence. In recent years, highly flexible and wearable strain/pressure sensors have been developed based on various materials/structures and transduction mechanisms. Piezoresistive three-dimensional (3D) monolithic conductive sponge, the resistance of which changes upon external pressure or stimuli, has emerged as a forefront material for flexible and wearable pressure sensor due to its excellent sensor performance, facile fabrication, and simple circuit integration. This review focuses on the rapid development of the piezoresistive pressure sensors based on 3D conductive sponges. Various piezoresistive conductive sponges are categorized into four different types and their material and structural characteristics are summarized. Methods for preparation of the 3D conductive sponges are reviewed, followed by examples of device performance and selected applications. The review concludes with a critical reflection of the current status and challenges. Prospects of the 3D conductive sponge for flexible and wearable pressure sensor are discussed.

Fabrication of Low-Cost and Highly Sensitive Graphene-Based Pressure Sensors by Direct Laser Scribing Polydimethylsiloxane

The cost-effective production of flexible interconnects is a challenge in epidermal electronics. Here we report a low-cost approach for producing and patterning graphene films from polydimethylsiloxane films by direct laser scribing in ambient air. The produced graphene films exhibit high electrical conductivity and excellent mechanical properties and can thus be used directly as a flexible conductive layer without the need for metals. The skinlike pressure sensor with these layers exhibits ultrahigh sensitivity (∼480 kPa^-1) while maintaining the fast response/relaxation time (2 μs/3 μs) and excellent cycle stability (>4000 repetitive cycles). Moreover, it can naturally attach to the skin to monitor the wrist pulse. In addition, a 7 × 7 sensor array has been fabricated, which possesses the capability to detect the spatial distribution of pressure. This device has great potential for application in epidermal electronics because of its low cost and high performance.

Touching the theoretical capacity: synthesizing cubic LiTi2(PO4)3/C nanocomposites for high-performance lithium-ion battery

A cubic LiTi2(PO4)3/C composite is successfully prepared via a simple solvothermal method and further glucose-pyrolysis treatment. The as-fabricated LTP/C material delivers an ultra-high reversible capacity of 144 mA h g-1 at 0.2C rate, which is the highest ever reported, and shows considerable performance improvement compared with before. Combining this with the stable cycling performance and high rate capability, such material has a promising future in practical application.