Intelligent Breathing Electronic Skin Inspired by Nepenthes for Active Sweat Management, Multimodal Sensing and...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomedical Engineering
• Robotics

Background:

• Electronic skin (e-skin) offers advanced sensing for healthcare and human-machine interaction (HMI).
• Sweat accumulation at the e-skin interface causes artifacts, discomfort, and device failure.
• Existing e-skin technologies lack effective sweat management solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an intelligent, breathable e-skin with active sweat transport capabilities.
• To create a "liquid diode" effect for unidirectional sweat removal, inspired by the Nepenthes peristome.
• To enhance the performance and longevity of e-skin devices for prolonged wear.

Main Methods:

• Constructed a Janus bilayer e-skin (SPTL) mimicking the Nepenthes peristome's liquid transport.
• Engineered a "liquid diode" structure for active, unidirectional sweat transport.
• Evaluated tensile strain, breathability, pressure sensitivity, and long-term stability (>10,000 cycles).

Main Results:

• Achieved a cumulative one-way transport index of 956.36, maintaining a dry interface.
• Demonstrated high tensile strain (627%), breathability (20.02 mm s^-1), and pressure sensitivity (7.39 kPa^-1).
• Enabled high-fidelity electroencephalogram (EEG), electromyogram (EMG), and electrocardiogram (ECG) signal acquisition, outperforming Ag/AgCl electrodes.

Conclusions:

• The SPTL provides a versatile solution for intelligent, breathable, and multimodal bio-integrated interfaces.
• The bionic strategy significantly improves e-skin performance and user comfort by managing sweat.
• SPTL facilitates advanced applications like robotic teleoperation and accurate handwritten character recognition.