Triboresistive Touch Sensing: Grid-Free Touch-Point Recognition Based on Monolayered Ionic Power Generators

Recent growing pursuit of skin-mountable devices has been impeded by the complicated structures of most sensing systems, containing electrode grids, stacked multilayers, and even external power sources. Here, a type of touch sensing, termed "triboresistive touch sensing", is introduced for gridless touch recognition based on monolayered ionic power generators. A homogeneous monolayer, i.e., ionic poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), generates electricity based on the electric field generated by touch. Voltages generated at each corner of the ionic PDMS rely on resistance between touch points and each corner, ensuring recognition of the touch positions without the need for electrode grid layers and external power sources. With notable advantages of high transparency (96.5%), stretchability (539.1%), and resilience (99.0%) of the ionic PDMS, epidermal triboresistive sensing is demonstrated to express touch position and readily play a musical instrument. A gridless system of triboresistive sensing allows rearrangement of the touch sections according to a given situation without any physical modification, and thus easily completes consecutive missions of controlling position, orientation, and gripping functions of a robot.