Flexible touch- and pressure sensitive eiezo elastomer stretch sensor for simple surface position detection

Abstract

A central advantage of organic electronics and related sensors is their flexibility. For some desirable applications however, flexibility alone is not sufficient. Technical skin-sensors for robotics or wearable, fabric-integrated large-area sensors need to be stretchable (especially for the purpose of convenience in the latter case) and not just flexible. A possible design for a large-area elastic touch- and pressure sensor combines cellular ferroelectrets with conductive polydimethylsilicone (PDMS). The ferroelectret itself is not elastic. A way to use it in a stretchable matrix for instance, is to cut the ferroelectret into sufficiently small pieces and integrate them into the elastic structure. The size of the ferroelectret chippings thereby can range from several millimeters to a few hundred micrometers.