Recent progress in pressure and temperature tactile sensors: principle, classification, integration and outlook

Abstract

Tactile sensors have received increasing research interest owing to the broad applications in areas of health monitoring, artificial intelligence, robotics, and prosthetics. The ability to understand and perceive touch and heat is of importance because it helps people to recognize objects, prevent injury, and provide heat information from grasped objects. However, bimodal tactile sensors often suffer from signal interference and complicated fabrication process. Numerous efforts have been undertaken to develop highly independent sensors based on different transduction principles as well as the device integration techniques. Here, strategies for improvement of main performance parameters such as sensitivity, sensing range, hysteresis, response/recovery time, and stability are discussed. A comprehensive overview of important progress in pressure and temperature tactile sensors in recent years is summarized. According to sensor units and transduction principles, temperature and pressure tactile sensors are categorized into two types: dual-parameter sensors and integrated bimodal sensors. Integration of tactile sensors from the viewpoint of power supply, wireless communication, and signal process circuit is given. Finally, challenges and outlook are provided and presented for pressure and temperature tactile sensors.

Keywords

Tactile sensor / pressure sensor / temperature sensor / dual-parameter sensor / bimodal sensor

References

[1] Yu H,Zhao N.How far are we from achieving self‐powered flexible health monitoring systems: an energy perspective.Adv Energy Mater2021;11:2002646

[2] Wu C,Park JH.Self-powered tactile sensor with learning and memory.ACS Nano2020;14:1390-8

[3] Yin R,Zhao S,Shen G.Wearable sensors - enabled human-machine interaction systems: from design to application.Adv Funct Mater2021;31:2008936

[4] Wu Y,Zhou Y.A skin-inspired tactile sensor for smart prosthetics.Sci Robot2018;3:eaat0429

[5] Pyo S,Bae K,Kim J.Recent progress in flexible tactile sensors for human-interactive systems: from sensors to advanced applications.Adv Mater2021;e2005902

[6] Shi J,Dai Z.Multiscale hierarchical design of a flexible piezoresistive pressure sensor with high sensitivity and wide linearity range.Small2018;14:e1800819

[7] Yamamoto Y,Yamamoto D.Printed multifunctional flexible device with an integrated motion sensor for health care monitoring.Sci Adv2016;2:e1601473 PMCID:PMC5262446

[8] Dahiya RS. Robotic tactile sensing: technologies and system. Springer: Science & Business Media; 2012.

[9] Sundaram S,Li Y,Torralba A.Learning the signatures of the human grasp using a scalable tactile glove.Nature2019;569:698-702

[10] Wang Z,Huang H,Lin W.Full 3D printing of stretchable piezoresistive sensor with hierarchical porosity and multimodulus architecture.Adv Funct Mater2019;29:1807569

[11] Park YJ,Shinde SM.All MoS₂-based large area, skin-attachable active-matrix tactile sensor.ACS Nano2019;13:3023-30

[12] Ma L,Hu Y.A highly sensitive and flexible capacitive pressure sensor based on a micro-arrayed polydimethylsiloxane dielectric layer.J Mater Chem C2018;6:13232-40

[13] Chen X,Tian H.Scalable imprinting of flexible multiplexed sensor arrays with distributed piezoelectricity - enhanced micropillars for dynamic tactile sensing.Adv Mater Technol2020;5:2000046

[14] Chen Z,Li X.Flexible piezoelectric-induced pressure sensors for static measurements based on nanowires/graphene heterostructures.ACS Nano2017;11:4507-13

[15] Wang X,Dong L.Self-powered high-resolution and pressure-sensitive triboelectric sensor matrix for real-time tactile mapping.Adv Mater2016;28:2896-903

[16] Rao J,Zhao D.Tactile electronic skin to simultaneously detect and distinguish between temperature and pressure based on a triboelectric nanogenerator.Nano Energy2020;75:105073

[17] Shin J,Kim J.Sensitive wearable temperature sensor with seamless monolithic integration.Adv Mater2020;32:e1905527

[18] Dinh T,Qamar A,Nguyen N.Thermoresistive effect for advanced thermal sensors: fundamentals, design considerations, and applications.J Microelectromech Syst2017;26:966-86

[19] Li M,Zhong W.Large-area, wearable, self-powered pressure-temperature sensor based on 3D thermoelectric spacer fabric.ACS Sens2020;5:2545-54

[20] Horta Romarís L,Huang B.Multifunctional electromechanical and thermoelectric polyaniline-poly(vinyl acetate) latex composites for wearable devices.J Mater Chem C2018;6:8502-12

[21] Lee M.Review Article Tactile sensing for mechatronics - a state of the art survey.Mechatronics1999;9:1-31

[22] Lee S,Reeder J.A transparent bending-insensitive pressure sensor.Nat Nanotechnol2016;11:472-8

[23] Wu C,Ding W,Wang ZL.Triboelectric nanogenerator: a foundation of the energy for the new era.Adv Energy Mater2019;9:1802906

[24] Liu D,Ren W.A new kind of thermocouple made of p-type and n-type semi-conductive oxides with giant thermoelectric voltage for high temperature sensing.J Mater Chem C2018;6:3206-11

[25] Shi L,Chen M,Jiang Y.Quantum effect-based flexible and transparent pressure sensors with ultrahigh sensitivity and sensing density.Nat Commun2020;11:3529 PMCID:PMC7363923

[26] Yang JC,Kwon SY,Bao Z.Electronic skin: recent progress and future prospects for skin-attachable devices for health monitoring, robotics, and prosthetics.Adv Mater2019;31:e1904765

[27] Bae GY,Kim D.Linearly and highly pressure-sensitive electronic skin based on a bioinspired hierarchical structural array.Adv Mater2016;28:5300-6

[28] Chou HH,Chortos A.A chameleon-inspired stretchable electronic skin with interactive colour changing controlled by tactile sensing.Nat Commun2015;6:8011 PMCID:PMC4560774

[29] Zhao XH,Long H.Multifunctional sensor based on porous carbon derived from metal-organic frameworks for real time health monitoring.ACS Appl Mater Interfaces2018;10:3986-93

[30] Wang C,Zhang M,Zhang Y.An all-silk-derived dual-mode E-skin for simultaneous temperature-pressure detection.ACS Appl Mater Interfaces2017;9:39484-92

[31] Zu G,Nakanishi K.Superhydrophobic ultraflexible triple-network graphene/polyorganosiloxane aerogels for a high-performance multifunctional temperature/strain/pressure sensing array.Chem Mater2019;31:6276-85

[32] Zhang F,Huang D,Zhu D.Flexible and self-powered temperature-pressure dual-parameter sensors using microstructure-frame-supported organic thermoelectric materials.Nat Commun2015;6:8356 PMCID:PMC4595753

[33] Han S,Khan ZU,Fabiano S.Thermoelectric polymer aerogels for pressure-temperature sensing applications.Adv Funct Mater2017;27:1703549

[34] Wang Y,Xu L,Yang Y.Hierarchically patterned self-powered sensors for multifunctional tactile sensing.Sci Adv2020;6:eabb9083 PMCID:PMC7438107

[35] Wang Y,Wang Y,Liu C.3D geometrically structured PANI/CNT-decorated polydimethylsiloxane active pressure and temperature dual-parameter sensors for man-machine interaction applications.J Mater Chem A2020;8:15167-76

[36] Gui Q,Gao N,Wang Y.A skin-inspired integrated sensor for synchronous monitoring of multiparameter signals.Adv Funct Mater2017;27:1702050

[37] Jung M,Kim J.Transparent and flexible mayan-pyramid-based pressure sensor using facile-transferred indium tin oxide for bimodal sensor applications.Sci Rep2019;9:14040 PMCID:PMC6773852

[38] Wang Z,Liu J.A flexible bimodal sensor based on an electrospun nanofibrous structure for simultaneous pressure-temperature detection.Nanoscale2019;11:14242-9

[39] Bae GY,Lee G.Pressure/temperature sensing bimodal electronic skin with stimulus discriminability and linear sensitivity.Adv Mater2018;30:e1803388

[40] Wu R,Hou C.Silk composite electronic textile sensor for high space precision 2D combo temperature-pressure sensing.Small2019;15:e1901558

[41] Shin S,Kim S.Ion-conductive self-healing hydrogels based on an interpenetrating polymer network for a multimodal sensor.Chem Eng J2019;371:452-60

[42] Jung M,Kim B.Paper-Based Bimodal Sensor for Electronic Skin Applications.ACS Appl Mater Interfaces2017;9:26974-82

[43] Jung M,Kim B,Kang JW.Vertically stacked nanocellulose tactile sensor.Nanoscale2017;9:17212-9

[44] Kim K,Kim B.Low-voltage, high-sensitivity and high-reliability bimodal sensor array with fully inkjet-printed flexible conducting electrode for low power consumption electronic skin.Nano Energy2017;41:301-7

[45] Zhu P,Sheng M,Yu Y.A flexible active dual-parameter sensor for sensitive temperature and physiological signal monitoring via integrating thermoelectric and piezoelectric conversion.J Mater Chem A2019;7:8258-67

[46] Zhu P,Wang Y,Zhang Q.Flexible 3D architectured piezo/thermoelectric bimodal tactile sensor array for E-skin application.Adv Energy Mater2020;10:2001945

[47] Song K,Wang ZL.Conjuncted pyro-piezoelectric effect for self-powered simultaneous temperature and pressure sensing.Adv Mater2019;31:e1902831

[48] Yu J,Zivkovic I,Wang T.Quantification of the local magnetized nanotube domains accelerating the photocatalytic removal of the emerging pollutant tetracycline.Appl Catal B2019;248:450-8

[49] O'regan B.A low-cost, high-efficiency solar cell based on dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films.Nature1991;353:737-40

[50] Michaels H,Freitag R.Dye-sensitized solar cells under ambient light powering machine learning: towards autonomous smart sensors for the internet of things.Chem Sci2020;11:2895-906 PMCID:PMC8157489

[51] Wang Y,Deng Y.Self-powered wearable pressure sensing system for continuous healthcare monitoring enabled by flexible thin-film thermoelectric generator.Nano Energy2020;73:104773

[52] Wang Y,Sheng M,Deng Y.Flexible thermopower generation over broad temperature range by PANI/nanorod hybrid-based p-n couples.J Mater Chem A2019;7:1718-24

[53] Feng J,Zhang Z,Yu Y.Enhanced electrical transport properties via defect control for screen-printed Bi₂Te₃ films over a wide temperature range.ACS Appl Mater Interfaces2020;12:16630-8

[54] Sheng M,Liu C,Zhu P.Significantly enhanced thermoelectric performance in SWCNT films via carrier tuning for high power generation.Carbon2020;158:802-7

[55] Park DY,Kim DH.Self-Powered real-time arterial pulse monitoring using ultrathin epidermal piezoelectric sensors.Adv Mater2017;29:1702308

[56] Chen X,Shao J.High-performance piezoelectric nanogenerators with imprinted P(VDF-TrFE)/BaTiO₃ nanocomposite micropillars for self-powered flexible sensors.Small2017;13:1604245

[57] Fan FR,Zhu G,Zhang R.Transparent triboelectric nanogenerators and self-powered pressure sensors based on micropatterned plastic films.Nano Lett2012;12:3109-14

[58] Varma S, Sambath Kumar K, Seal S, Rajaraman S, Thomas J. Fiber-type solar cells, nanogenerators, batteries, and supercapacitors for wearable applications.Adv Sci (Weinh)2018;5:1800340 PMCID:PMC6145419

[59] Pan Z,Guan G.Synthesizing nitrogen-doped core-sheath carbon nanotube films for flexible lithium ion batteries.Adv Energy Mater2016;6:1600271

[60] Wang N,Hao S.Tactile sensor from self-chargeable piezoelectric supercapacitor.Nano Energy2019;56:868-74

[61] Wang J,Meng J,Wang B.Stretchable energy storage E-skin supercapacitors and body movement sensors.Sens Actuators B Chem2020;305:127529

[62] Han S,Won SM.Battery-free, wireless sensors for full-body pressure and temperature mapping.Sci Transl Med2018;10:eaan4950 PMCID:PMC5996377

[63] Song Y,Yu Y.Wireless battery-free wearable sweat sensor powered by human motion.Sci Adv2020;6:eaay9842 PMCID:PMC7527225

[64] Luo Y,Sharma P.Learning human-environment interactions using conformal tactile textiles.Nat Electron2021;4:193-201

[65] An BW,Ji S,Park JU.Transparent and flexible fingerprint sensor array with multiplexed detection of tactile pressure and skin temperature.Nat Commun2018;9:2458 PMCID:PMC6030134