ACS applied materials & interfaces | 2019
Versatile Electronic Skin with Biomimetic Micronanostructures Fabricated Using Natural Reed Leaves as Templates.
Abstract
Versatile electronic skin devices that enable detecting multi-modal signals have revealed great potential for human health monitoring. To make a versatile electronic skin, hierarchical micronanostructures are essential to get improved sensing performance and multi-signal detection capability. However, current strategies for developing nanostructured electronic skin usually involve complex procedures, harsh experimental conditions and the use of expensive equipment, which limits their practical applications. In this paper, we reported the fabrication of a multifunctional wearable electronic skin with hierarchical micronanostructures by using natural reed leaves as templates. The capacitive-type electronic skin is fabricated by double sided coating of Au electrodes on an artificial polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) reed leaf that is duplicated from natural reed leaves via soft lithography. The electronic skin features a very simple device structure yet high sensing performance. It permits multi-modal signals detection, including pressure, deformation, proximity, and can serve as surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates for detection of the metabolites in sweat due to the formation of plasmonic structures. The versatile electronic skin can be attached to human skin, and enables effective monitoring of multi physiological signals, revealing great potential for cutting-edge applications, such human health monitoring.