Biomimetic multifunctional E-skins integrated with mechanoluminescence and chemical sensing abilities

Abstract

Animal skins exhibit multiple fascinating functions for acclimatization and survival, such as stress- and temperature-detection, mechanoluminescence, and perception of toxic chemicals. Integrating these functions into a single electronic skin (E-skin) is of great significance to expand its practical applications in future. Herein, we present a facile method to fabricate multifunctional strain sensors integrated with mechanoluminescence and chemical sensing abilities. Benefiting from the microcrack architecture design and the doping–dedoping process of cellulose nanocrystals-supported polyaniline nanohybrids, our sensor exhibits high sensitivity to external force stimuli and superfast ammonia detection (1.5 s). Furthermore, owing to the wurtzite-structure of metal-doped ZnS microparticles, our E-skin can also transfer the mechanical stress to eye-detectable fluorescence to visualize the stress. The bio-inspired multifunctional sensor demonstrates great potential for applications in E-skins, environmental monitoring robotic systems and other electronic devices.