Research Article Cite This: ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2018, 10, 31472−31479
www.acsami.org
Ultrasensitive, Low-Power Oxide Transistor-Based Mechanotransducer with Microstructured, Deformable Ionic Dielectrics Sukjin Jang,†,‡,⊥ Eunsong Jee,§,⊥ Daehwan Choi,†,‡ Wook Kim,∥ Joo Sung Kim,§ Vipin Amoli,§ Taehoon Sung,†,‡ Dukhyun Choi,∥ Do Hwan Kim,*,§ and Jang-Yeon Kwon*,†,‡
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2018.10:31472-31479. Downloaded from pubs.acs.org by UNIV PARIS-SUD on 11/11/18. For personal use only.
†
School of Integrated Technology and ‡Yonsei Institute of Convergence Technology, Yonsei University, Incheon 21983, Republic of Korea § Department of Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Republic of Korea ∥ Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin 17104, Republic of Korea S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: The development of a highly sensitive artificial mechanotransducer that mimics the tactile sensing features of human skin has been a big challenge in electronic skin research. Here, we demonstrate an ultrasensitive, low-power oxide transistor-based mechanotransducer modulated by microstructured, deformable ionic dielectrics, which is consistently sensitive to a wide range of pressures from 1 to 50 kPa. To this end, we designed a viscoporoelastic and ionic thermoplastic polyurethane (i-TPU) with micropyramidal feature as a pressure-sensitive gate dielectric for the indium− gallium−zinc−oxide (IGZO) transistor-based mechanotransducer, which leads to an unprecedented sensitivity of 43.6 kPa−1, which is 23 times higher than that of a capacitive mechanotransducer. This is because the pressure-induced ion accumulation at the interface of the i-TPU dielectric and IGZO semiconductor effectively modulates the conducting channel, which contributed to the enhanced current level under pressure. We believe that the ionic transistor-type mechanotransducer suggested by us will be an effective way to perceive external tactile stimuli over a wide pressure range even under low power (
