Stretchable Polymer Composite with a 3D Segregated Structure of PEDOT:PSS for Multifunctional Touchless Sensing

Soft electronics with the capability of perceiving surrounding objects and acquiring information without direct touch have become increasingly important for applications in remote safety and healthcare monitoring, artificial prosthetics, and augmented reality. So far, materials that are inherently stretchable and can exhibit distinct touchless sensing capability are still scarce. Here, we report that constructing a three-dimensional (3D) segregated structure in the carboxylated styrene-butadiene latex film using poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) can lead to a highly stretchable polymer composite with high sensitivity toward various touchless stimuli. Consequently, the resultant composite can be directly used for touchless sensing. Control experiments reveal that the unique 3D segregated structure is essential to achieve high-performance touchless sensing. We further show that the composite can be assembled into capacitors to precisely identify surrounding objects via capacitive proximity sensing. Moreover, an intelligent prosthetic hand is fabricated by integrating piezoresistive and capacitive sensing modes together, demonstrating that the newly developed polymer composite holds great potential for practical touchless sensing by simultaneously perceiving the location and the temperature of the target.