npj Flexible Electronics (Feb 2024)

Ultrafast readout, crosstalk suppression iontronic array enabled by frequency-coding architecture

  • Zhibin Li,
  • Jing Yang,
  • Yuxuan Zhang,
  • Peiyan Geng,
  • Jiansong Feng,
  • Bin Chen,
  • Xu Zhang,
  • Guojiang Yuan,
  • Xiaolong Chen,
  • Taihong Wang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-024-00295-2
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

Read online

Abstract The development of iontronic skin (I-skin) capable of ultrafast sensing in a wide pressure range, comparable to human skin, is of paramount importance for intelligent robotics. However, this remains a major challenge due to the lack of iontronic array architectures that can achieve ultrafast readout and crosstalk-free under large capacitance response generated within a wide pressure range. Here, we report a frequency-coding architecture of artificial ion mechanoreceptor skin (AIM-skin) that can provide a universal mode of iontronic array sensing and bypass the dependence of complex integrated back-end interface electronics. Notably, the successful implementation of orthogonal frequency coding in the AIM-skin with high sensitivity and ultrawide pressure range achieve ultrafast parallel readout for the spatiotemporal mechanical stimuli. Furthermore, the parallel zero-potential mechanism (PZPM) of the architecture effectively mitigates electrical crosstalk between sensing units. We have demonstrated that combhination of proposed device and deep learning has a broad application prospect in intelligent human-machine interaction and real-time dynamic robotic manipulation.