Ultrasensitive bionic photonic-electronic skin with wide red-shift mechanochromic response

Mimicking animal skin is an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of artificial skin. Inspired by a chameleon’s iridophore and a spider’s slit organ, a novel photonic-electronic skin (PE-skin) with excellent optical/electrical dual-sensing performance was developed by integrating a photon...

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Main Authors: Tianqi Wang, Lei Chen, Haogeng Liu, Haoran Zhu, Zijie Zeng, Yixin Lu, Ping Zhang, Yaofei Chen, Yue Huang, Gui-Shi Liu, Yunhan Luo, Zhe Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Light Publishing Group 2025-08-01
Series:Light: Advanced Manufacturing
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Online Access:https://www.light-am.com/article/doi/10.37188/lam.2025.020
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author Tianqi Wang
Lei Chen
Haogeng Liu
Haoran Zhu
Zijie Zeng
Yixin Lu
Ping Zhang
Yaofei Chen
Yue Huang
Gui-Shi Liu
Yunhan Luo
Zhe Chen
author_facet Tianqi Wang
Lei Chen
Haogeng Liu
Haoran Zhu
Zijie Zeng
Yixin Lu
Ping Zhang
Yaofei Chen
Yue Huang
Gui-Shi Liu
Yunhan Luo
Zhe Chen
author_sort Tianqi Wang
collection DOAJ
description Mimicking animal skin is an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of artificial skin. Inspired by a chameleon’s iridophore and a spider’s slit organ, a novel photonic-electronic skin (PE-skin) with excellent optical/electrical dual-sensing performance was developed by integrating a photonic crystal (PC) with a conductive MXene/silver nanowire (AgNW) composite into adhesive polydimethylsiloxane. The PC layer containing in-plane-spaced and interplane-packed nanoparticle arrays was fabricated via a fast, facile, combined method of “Marangoni self-assembly”, “plasma etching”, and “adhesive PDMS transfer”. Notably, the PC exhibited a red-shift mechanochromic response through in-plane stretching, which is the first report of sharing the same mechanochromic behavior as a chameleon iridophore. The underlying MXene layer formed slit-organ-like cracks that provided high sensitivity, whereas the AgNWs maintained their conductivity under large strains. The resultant PE-skin exhibited a high mechanochromic sensitivity (2.57 nm %−1) and a high electrical gauge factor of 2600 in a large strain-sensing range (up to 85%). These advantages have been confirmed in the detection of full-range human motions, such as speech recognition, using a deep neural network algorithm. The red-shift stretchable PC demonstrates a new paradigm for artificial chameleon skins, and the bionic PC crack bilayer structure extends the design concept for visually interactive e-skins.
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publishDate 2025-08-01
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spelling doaj-art-ea84d1b3e04e4c7a9968f746ad6b34562025-08-20T02:56:24ZengLight Publishing GroupLight: Advanced Manufacturing2689-96202025-08-016220621810.37188/lam.2025.020Ultrasensitive bionic photonic-electronic skin with wide red-shift mechanochromic responseTianqi Wang0Lei Chen1Haogeng Liu2Haoran Zhu3Zijie Zeng4Yixin Lu5Ping Zhang6Yaofei Chen7Yue Huang8Gui-Shi Liu9https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2507-4092Yunhan Luo10Zhe Chen11Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaDepartment of Dermatology, Wuhan No.1 Hospital, Wuhan 430022, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaSchool of Stomatology, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications, Key Laboratory of Visible Light Communications of Guangzhou, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information and Sensing Technologies of Guangdong Higher Education Institutes, College of Physics & Optoelectronic Engineering, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, ChinaJihua Laboratory, Foshan 528200, ChinaMimicking animal skin is an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of artificial skin. Inspired by a chameleon’s iridophore and a spider’s slit organ, a novel photonic-electronic skin (PE-skin) with excellent optical/electrical dual-sensing performance was developed by integrating a photonic crystal (PC) with a conductive MXene/silver nanowire (AgNW) composite into adhesive polydimethylsiloxane. The PC layer containing in-plane-spaced and interplane-packed nanoparticle arrays was fabricated via a fast, facile, combined method of “Marangoni self-assembly”, “plasma etching”, and “adhesive PDMS transfer”. Notably, the PC exhibited a red-shift mechanochromic response through in-plane stretching, which is the first report of sharing the same mechanochromic behavior as a chameleon iridophore. The underlying MXene layer formed slit-organ-like cracks that provided high sensitivity, whereas the AgNWs maintained their conductivity under large strains. The resultant PE-skin exhibited a high mechanochromic sensitivity (2.57 nm %−1) and a high electrical gauge factor of 2600 in a large strain-sensing range (up to 85%). These advantages have been confirmed in the detection of full-range human motions, such as speech recognition, using a deep neural network algorithm. The red-shift stretchable PC demonstrates a new paradigm for artificial chameleon skins, and the bionic PC crack bilayer structure extends the design concept for visually interactive e-skins.https://www.light-am.com/article/doi/10.37188/lam.2025.020stretchable photonic crystalred shiftmicrocrackshigh sensitivitystrain sensorsdual-function
spellingShingle Tianqi Wang
Lei Chen
Haogeng Liu
Haoran Zhu
Zijie Zeng
Yixin Lu
Ping Zhang
Yaofei Chen
Yue Huang
Gui-Shi Liu
Yunhan Luo
Zhe Chen
Ultrasensitive bionic photonic-electronic skin with wide red-shift mechanochromic response
Light: Advanced Manufacturing
stretchable photonic crystal
red shift
microcracks
high sensitivity
strain sensors
dual-function
title Ultrasensitive bionic photonic-electronic skin with wide red-shift mechanochromic response
title_full Ultrasensitive bionic photonic-electronic skin with wide red-shift mechanochromic response
title_fullStr Ultrasensitive bionic photonic-electronic skin with wide red-shift mechanochromic response
title_full_unstemmed Ultrasensitive bionic photonic-electronic skin with wide red-shift mechanochromic response
title_short Ultrasensitive bionic photonic-electronic skin with wide red-shift mechanochromic response
title_sort ultrasensitive bionic photonic electronic skin with wide red shift mechanochromic response
topic stretchable photonic crystal
red shift
microcracks
high sensitivity
strain sensors
dual-function
url https://www.light-am.com/article/doi/10.37188/lam.2025.020
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