Intrinsically stretchable polymer semiconductor based electronic skin for multiple perceptions of force, temperature, and visible light

Abstract

As a stretchable seamless device, electronic skin (E-skin) has drawn enormous interest due to its skin-like sensing capability. Besides the basic perception of force and temperature, multiple perception that is beyond existing functions of human skin is becoming an important direction for E-skin developments. However, the present E-skins for multiple perceptions mainly rely on different sensing materials and heterogeneous integration, resulting in a complex device structure. Additionally, their stretchability is usually achieved by the complicated microstructure design of rigid materials. Here, we report an intrinsically stretchable polymer semiconductor based E-skin with a simple structure for multiple perceptions of force, temperature, and visible light. The E-skin is on the basis of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) nanofibers percolated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composite polymer semiconductor, which is fabricated by a facile solution method. The E-skin shows reliable sensing capabilities when it is used to perceive strain, pressure, temperature, and visible light. Based on the E-skin, an intelligent robotic hand sensing and controlling system is further demonstrated. Compared with conventional E-skins for multiple perceptions, this E-skin only has a simple monolayer sensing membrane without the need of combining different sensing materials, heterogeneous integration, and complicated microstructure design. Such a strategy of utilizing intrinsically stretchable polymer semiconductor to create simple structured E-skin for multiple perceptions will promote the development of E-skins in a broad application scenario, such as artificial robotic skins, virtual reality, intelligent gloves, and biointegrated electronics.