Soft touch sensors with memory elements embedded in skin
ESR9
Objectives
Develop graphene based highly sensitive touch and strain sensors connected with memristors and embedded in soft materials such as eco-flex. The graphene is chosen as its optical transparency will allow us to study the transmission of external stimuli through the soft material surrounding the sensors. This will help us to establish the role of skin mechanics through artificial means. The fabrication and electro-optic characterization of flexible electrodes and touch and strain sensors will be carried out. For memristors, the dry fabrication (i.e. free from conventional chemical processing) of graphene oxide (GO) will be carried out by plasma oxidation. For counter electrode graphene will be transfer printed on top of GO and a thin gold layer will be deposited at the edges of sample for electrical contacts. The graphene-based sensors will have planar capacitive structures. The sensors will be interfaced with compact electronics developed in other projects.
Expected Results
Novel touch sensor with memory like effect to mimic the viscoelastic behavior of skin.
Planned secondments
ACA: to learn about viscoelectic effect of skin on tactile encoding
FBK: memory devices using CMOS technology
KUL: to evaluate the sensor with electronic interface
Placement
Host institution: University of Glasgow
Enrolments (in Doctoral degree): University of Glasgow