Electron‑Induced Perpendicular Graphene Sheets Embedded Porous Carbon Film for Flexible Touch Sensors

Abstract

Graphene-based materials on wearable electronics and bendable displays have received considerable attention for the mechanical flexibility, superior electrical conductivity, and high surface area, which are proved to be one of the most promising candidates of stretching and wearable sensors. However, polarized electric charges need to overcome the barrier of graphene sheets to cross over flakes to penetrate into the electrode, as the graphene planes are usually parallel to the electrode surface. By introducing electron-induced perpendicular graphene (EIPG) electrodes incorporated with a stretchable dielectric layer, a flexible and stretchable touch sensor with “in-sheet-charges-transportation” is developed to lower the resistance of carrier movement. The electrode was fabricated with porous nanostructured architecture design to enable wider variety of dielectric constants of only 50-μm-thick Ecoflex layer, leading to fast response time of only 66 ms, as well as high sensitivities of 0.13 kPa−1 below 0.1 kPa and 4.41 MPa−1 above 10 kPa, respectively. Moreover, the capacitance-decrease phenomenon of capacitive sensor is explored to exhibit an object recognition function in one pixel without any other integrated sensor. This not only suggests promising applications of the EIPG electrode in flexible touch sensors but also provides a strategy for internet of things security functions.