Highly sensitive artificial skin inspired by nature

Nature : A flexible electronic material now being developed was inspired by the interlocking hairs of beetles. When beetles rest, hairs on their wings lock with hairs on their body through a type of static attraction called van der Waals forces. Kahp-Yang Suh of Seoul National University and colleagues mimicked the beetles’ layers of hairs with sheets of nanometer-sized polymer fibers coated with metal to make them electrically conductive. Then Suh and coworkers sandwiched the layers together and applied an electrical current, which caused the hairs to be attracted to one another. Pressing, brushing, or twisting the sensor sheets forced the hairs to change position. Via changes to the sensors’ electrical resistance, the researchers found that unlike previous artificial sensors, which could only distinguish total applied force, the new sensors could distinguish shear and torsion as well. Because of their heightened sensitivity, the new sensors could be used in a variety of applications, including robots and heart-rate monitors.