posted on 2023-08-14, 10:33authored byFu-Lin Gao, Ji Liu, Xiao-Peng Li, Qian Ma, Tingting Zhang, Zhong-Zhen Yu, Jie Shang, Run-Wei Li, Xiaofeng Li
Although skin-like sensors that can simultaneously detect
various
physical stimuli are of fair importance in cutting-edge human–machine
interaction, robotic, and healthcare applications, they still face
challenges in facile, scalable, and cost-effective production using
conventional active materials. The emerging two-dimensional transition
metal carbide, Ti3C2Tx MXene, integrated with favorable thermoelectric properties,
metallic-like conductivity, and a hydrophilic surface, is promising
for solving these problems. Herein, skin-like multifunctional sensors
are designed to precisely detect and distinguish temperature and pressure
stimuli without cross-talk by decorating elastic and porous substrates
with MXene sheets. Because the combination of the thermoelectric and
conductive MXene with the thermally insulating, elastic, and porous
substrate integrates efficient Seebeck and piezoresistive effects,
the resultant sensor exhibits not only an ultralow detection limit
(0.05 K), high signal-to-noise ratio, and excellent cycling stability
for temperature detection but also high sensitivity, fast response
time, and outstanding durability for pressure detection. Based on
the impressive dual-mode sensing properties and independent temperature
and pressure detections, a multimode input terminal and an electronic
skin are created, exhibiting great potential in robotic and human–machine
interaction applications. This work provides a scalable fabrication
of multifunctional tactile sensors for precisely detecting and distinguishing
temperature and pressure stimuli.