Bioinspired, Self-Powered, and Highly Sensitive Electronic Skin for Sensing Static and Dynamic Pressures

TLDR

Flexible piezoresistive pressure sensors are widely studied for healthcare, robotics, and artificial nerves, yet they typically require an external power source, and existing self‑powered devices mainly detect dynamic pressure while reliable static pressure sensing remains difficult. The authors introduce a bioinspired graphite/PDMS piezoresistive composite film that serves simultaneously as cathode and sensing layer, enabling a self‑powered electronic skin capable of detecting both dynamic and static forces. By harnessing redox‑induced electricity within the composite film, the sensor operates without an external power supply, integrating sensing and energy generation in a single flexible platform. The device achieves a pressure sensitivity of ~103 kPa⁻¹ across 0.02–30 kPa, successfully monitoring arterial pulses, human motion, and Morse code, and suggests a pathway toward next‑generation self‑powered wearable devices.

Abstract

Flexible piezoresistive pressure sensors obtain global research interest owing to their potential applications in healthcare, human–robot interaction, and artificial nerves. However, an additional power supply is usually required to drive the sensors, which results in increased complexity of the pressure sensing system. Despite the great efforts in pursuing self-powered pressure sensors, most of the self-powered devices can merely detect the dynamic pressure and the reliable static pressure detection is still challenging. With the help of redox-induced electricity, a bioinspired graphite/polydimethylsiloxane piezoresistive composite film acting both as the cathode and pressure sensing layer, a neoteric electronic skin sensor is presented here to detect not only the dynamic forces but also the static forces without an external power supply. Additionally, the sensor exhibits a fascinating pressure sensitivity of ∼103 kPa–1 over a broad sensing range from 0.02 to 30 kPa. Benefiting from the advanced performance of the device, various potential applications including arterial pulse monitoring, human motion detecting, and Morse code generation are successfully demonstrated. This new strategy could pave a way for the development of next-generation self-powered wearable devices.