<div>Article category: Research Article</div><div>Subcategory: Thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, self-powered sensing</div><div>Multistage micro-structured ionic skin for real-time vital signs
monitoring and human-machine interaction</div><div>Xueke Wang, Jinyu Zi, Yi Chen,
Qiang Wu, Zhimin Xiang, Yongqiang Tu, Peng Yang, Yanfen Wan*</div><div>X. Wang, J. Zi, Y. Chen, Q. Wu, Z. Xiang, Y. Tu, Dr. P. Yang, Prof. Y.
Wan</div><div>National Center for International Research on Photoelectric and Energy
Materials, Yunnan Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Materials &amp; Technology,
Yunnan Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Materials and Devices, School
of Materials and Energy, Yunnan University, Kunming 650091, China.</div><div>E-mail: <i>yfwan@ynu.edu.cn</i> </div><div>Keywords: skin-like microstructure, bio-template method, ionic skin,
dual-mode self-power, integrated device</div><div>Abstract:</div><div>Skin-like electronics research aiming to mimic even surpass human-like
specific tactile cognition by operating
perception-to-cognition-to-feedback of stimulus to build intelligent
cognition systems for certain imperceptible or inappreciable signals was
so attractive. Herein, we
constructed an all-in-one wearable device to address the sensitivity and
power supply simultaneously by integrating multistage micro-structured
ionic skin (MM i-skin) and piezoelectric &amp; thermoelectric dual-mode
self-power staffs. The MM i-skin with multi-stage “interlocked”
configurations achieved precise recognition of subtle signals, where the
sensitivity reached up to 77.4 kPa<sup>-1</sup>, as well as
response time of 46 ms, cyclic stability (over 1500 cycles), and a
pressure detection limit (over 50 kPa). Furthermore, we developed a
piezo/thermo-electricity dual-mode nanogenerator, denoted as P-iskin /
T-iskin, for self-powering the pressure sensor. This self-powered
multifunctional ionic skin enables real-time monitoring of weak body
signals, rehab guidance, and robotic motion recognition, demonstrating
potential for internet of things (IoT) applications involving the
artificial intelligence-motivated sapiential healthcare internet (SHI)
and widely distributed human-machine interaction (HMI).</div>