Nature-inspired nanotechnology: skin-mimicking sensors

Mimicking the exciting skin structure and function, researchers have designed hierarchical nanoporous and interlocked micro ridge structured polymers with gradient stiffness. The gradient elastic modulus of interlocked and micro ridge structured polymers effectively transfers the external stress and induces the large frictional contact between two polymeric layers, which facilitates their use in self-powered triboelectric sensors. Furthermore, the additional nanoporous structures in the micro ridge structured polymers lead to the effective variation of both volume and gap distance between opposing surfaces without the need of bulky spacers, resulting in ultrathin and flexible triboelectric sensors for applications in wearable electronics.