Cheng, W., Wang, X., Xiong, Z., Liu, J., Liu, Z., Jin, Y., Yao, H., Wong, T.-S., Ho, J. S., & Tee, B. C. K. (2023). Frictionless multiphasic interface for near-ideal aero-elastic pressure sensing. Nature Materials, 22(11), 1352–1360. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01628-8
Abstract:
Conventional pressure sensors rely on solid sensing elements. Instead, inspired by the air entrapment phenomenon on the surfaces of submerged lotus leaves, we designed a pressure sensor that uses the solid–liquid–liquid–gas multiphasic interfaces and the trapped elastic air layer to modulate capacitance changes with pressure at the interfaces. By creating an ultraslippery interface and structuring the electrodes at the nanoscale and microscale, we achieve near-friction-free contact line motion and thus near-ideal pressure-sensing performance. Using a closed-cell pillar array structure in synergy with the ultraslippery electrode surface, our sensor achieved outstanding linearity (R2 = 0.99944 ± 0.00015; nonlinearity, 1.49 ± 0.17%) while simultaneously possessing ultralow hysteresis (1.34 ± 0.20%) and very high sensitivity (79.1 ± 4.3 pF kPa−1). The sensor can operate under turbulent flow, in in vivo biological environments and during laparoscopic procedures. We anticipate that such a strategy will enable ultrasensitive and ultraprecise pressure monitoring in complex fluid environments with performance beyond the reach of the current state-of-the-art.
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Funding Info:
This research / project is supported by the National Robotics Programme - Robotics Enabling Capabilities and Technologies (RECT) grant
Grant Reference no. : W2025d0244
This research / project is supported by the National Research Foundation - NRF Fellowship program
Grant Reference no. : NRFF-2017-08
This research / project is supported by the A*STAR - Industry Alignment Fund-Pre-Positioning
Grant Reference no. : A20H8A0241
This research / project is supported by the National University of Singapore - Research Scholarship
Grant Reference no. : NA
Description:
This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01628-8