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Current Smart Materials, 2019, 4, 3-14
REVIEW ARTICLE
ISSN: 2405-4658
eISSN: 2405-4666

A Brief Review on e-Skin and its Multifunctional Sensing Applications

BENTHAM
SCIENCE

Mariam Turki Almansoori†, Xuan Li† and Lianxi Zheng*

Mechanical Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, 127788, United Arab Emirates

Abstract: Electronic skin (e-skin) is an artificial skin that mimics the sensing capabilities of human
skin, which brings many potential applications in robotics, artificial intelligence, prosthetics, and
health monitoring technologies. Many attempts associated with various mechanisms/approaches and
materials/structures have been developed to match the e-skins to the particular functions of specific
ARTICLE HISTORY
applications. Along the time, high sensitivity, mechanical flexibility/stretchability, multifunction, and
Received: December 24, 2018
large area are common driving forces in the research area. New materials, with a variety of structures
Revised: February 25, 2019 and unique properties, offer a plenty of freedoms in designing and fabricating e-skins. Significant
Accepted: February 26, 2019
progress has been made in recently years. This paper firstly reviews the most recent progress on na-
DOI: nomaterial-based e-skins according to four major sensing mechanisms, with an emphasis on the ef-
10.2174/2405465804666190313154903
fects of various materials on the sensitivity and stretchability of e-skins. Then the paper updates the
progress and effort with respect to multifunctional e-skins and organic-thin-film-transistor based
large-area e-skins. Further development possibilities are also briefly discussed.

Keywords: e-Skin, flexible electronics, motion monitoring, nanomaterial, pressure sensor, tactile sensor.

1. INTRODUCTION or give sensory feeling to amputees; if multi-functional sen-

sors are integrated, e-skins can also be employed for accu-
Skin is one of the most remarkable human organs as it
rately monitoring essential biometrics like blood pressure,
covers the whole body and contains a large number of neural
oxygen, temperature, blood sugar level and hydration level,
sensors that can sense different stimuli, such as pressure,
etc.
temperature, and texture of an object, at the same time.
Current Smart Materials

Along with its excellent sensing capability, human skin has The scale of an e-skin ranges from a small patch for
other remarkable properties including flexibility, stretchabil- health monitoring to a large area for robotics. The specific
ity, and self-healing. Inspired by the unique structure of hu- structures and functions of e-skins vary a lot depending on
man skin, electronic skins (e-skins) were developed via ad- materials used, transduction mechanisms, and applications.
vanced materials and technologies, to simulate the sensing Nevertheless, an e-skin is, in general, composed of a protec-
functions and mechanical abilities of human skin [1-3]. tive layer, a sensor layer, a signal processing layer, and a
substrate [11]. The protective layer protects the sensor array,
Tactile sensors in prostheses or mechanical arms have and transfers the tactile information (and other interactions)
been studied since 1970s-80s [4, 5]. Combined tactile feed- to the sensor array when the skin is touched/approached; the
back with a computer via a touch screen and its functionality sensor array converts the tactile information into electrical
for prosthetic hands have been demonstrated. Thereafter, signals, which are further acquired and processed by the sig-
numerous applications of tactile sensors and e-skins have nal processing layer and then transmitted to the bottom struc-
been identified in robotics, artificial intelligence, prosthetics, tural material layer (i.e. the substrate). In addition to the flex-
health monitoring technologies and human-machine interfac- ibility (to conform to various curved surfaces/shapes) and
es, making e-skin one of the trending research topics [6-10]. stretchability (to support joint movement), the overall struc-
For example, e-skins can be used to provide action related ture should be able to simultaneously sense different physi-
information (e.g. sticking, slipping, and grasping) and further cal stimuli (including strain, twist, temperature, and humidi-
estimate the control parameters such as contact force accord- ty) with high sensitivity, and to differentiate them with good
ing to the softness/hardness and texture of the objects; e- temporal and spatial resolutions. For instance, to emulate the
skins with pressure sensors can be applied to robots to detect human skin in terms of touch/pressure sensitivity, an e-skin
and localize the pressure exerted by the surrounding objects, should be able to recognize both mediums (10-100 KPa) and
low pressures (less than 10 KPa) [12, 13].
*Address correspondence to this author at the Mechanical Engineering, Fabrication of e-skins is challenging because: 1) the con-
Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, 127788, United
Arab Emirates; Tel: 97125018318; E-mail: [email protected]
ventional sensors like strain gauges have a very narrow re-
†
These authors contributed equally to this work. sponsive range; 2) various types of sensors must be integrat-

2405-4666/19 $58.00+.00 © 2019 Bentham Science Publishers

4 Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 Almansoori et al.

ed together to achieve multifunction; 3) existing planar elec- recently to broaden the applications of e-skins. In the follow-
tronics are rigid, lacking good flexibility. Although the con- ing sections, we discuss the latest studies according to these
cept of “More than Moore” and/or using organic semicon- four types of sensing mechanisms.
ductors have been attempted [12, 14], the hope was raised
recently when nanomaterials were used for flexible electron- 2.1. e-Skins Based on a Piezo-Resistive Mechanism
ics and e-skins [15]. To date, different materials along with Piezo-resistive sensors are broadly used because of their
various approaches have been studied to develop e-skins. simple device design, fabrication process and reading meth-
Many nanomaterials in low dimensions are intrinsically flex- od. They enable transduction of force variations into re-
ible and have excellent electronic properties, offering good sistance changes that can be easily detected by an electrical
stretchability and sensitivity at the same time. Some proper- measuring system. The most common approaches to obtain
ties, such as sensitivity, time response, and device density, the resistance dependence of pressure-sensitive sensors in-
may already exceed human skin. Now an increasing research clude changes in the contact resistance between conductive
focus is towards multifunctional e-skins. For example, ener- materials and changes in the conductive path in conductive
gy autonomy nature of a self-powered e-skin would enable it elastic composites.
to be portable with longer operation time [6]. Such e-skins
could be realized by piezoelectricity, or by integrating a A considerable amount of researches are based on the
transparent skin with solar cells underneath the skin to har- piezo-resistive mechanism by integrating conductive nano-
vest the energy from light [16]. The novel flexible and materials into flexible substrates. Gold nanowires and gold
stretchable nanomaterial-based solar cells or other energy nanoparticles are found to be very effective in building
generators (e.g. those based on piezoelectricity) allow the sensitive tactile sensors. Stretchable strain sensors made of
fabrication of energy-autonomous stretchable e-skins [6, 17]. the gold-nanoparticle composite were used as apex-
In addition to energy autonomy, other functions of e-skins cardiogram [18]. Stretchable latex rubber with gold nan-
have been drawing growing attention amongst researches owires was fabricated into highly stretchable strain sensors
during recent years, such as electro/thermo-chromicity, cha- for health and motion monitoring [6]. Fig. (1) shows the per-
meleon effect, and self-healing etc. In parallel to multifunc- formance of such kind of sensors when used for motion
tion, producing large area of e-skins at a low cost is another monitoring [3, 6]. These ultrathin gold nanowires used in
driving force, and Organic Thin Film Transistors (OTFTs) sensors can be as thin as 2 nm and of tens of micrometers in
play a critical role towards this goal. length, giving high mechanical flexibility. Together with
their high conductivity, the sensors had a Gauge Factor (GF)
In short, the research of e-skins has been promoted by of approximately 9.9, a stretchability more than 350%, a fast
utilizing new materials and new structures, and the near fu- response time less than 22 milliseconds, and a wide dynamic
ture focus is on providing large area e-skins with high sensi- tensile strain range of 0.01%-200%. These sensors were not
tivity, multifunction, and excellent stretchability at low cost. only used to monitor the movements of the arm, cheek, and
This paper reviews recent studies in terms of progress in throat, but also attached on the wrist for pulse detection.
pursuing these properties and functions. Clear outputs with high signal-to-noise ratios could be de-
tected repeatedly and reliability. Besides, by integrating on a
2. NANOMATERIAL-BASED E-SKINS glove, the sensor was able to differentiate various hand posi-
The performance of e-skin tactile sensors is highly de- tions. Sensitive wearable e-skin was also developed based on
pendent on the sensing material, sensing mechanism, and graphite nano-plates and polyurethane composite films [19].
device design. In order to achieve sensing functions and The high electrical conductivity and unique microstructures
stretchability at the same time, the active materials with good allowed the sensors to have a GF of 0.9 at the strain variation
electrical, optical, and structural properties are usually inte- of up to 30%, and be able to detect the force/pressure as low
grated with polymer substrates/supports. The active materials as 0.005 N/50 Pa both statically and dynamically. An im-
provide functional properties while thin substrates offer me- pressive finding is that the sensors had a linear response to
chanical flexibility. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyvi- the bending angle and elongation, promising for practical
nyl alcohol (PVC), polyamide and polyethylene terephthalate healthcare applications. Another e-skin device employed two
(PET) are usually used as thin substrates. The active materi- layers of 2D graphene/vertically grown PEDOT nano-
als include metals or semiconductors, such as nanoparticles fiber/PVDF-co-hexafluoropropene nanohybrid films, exhib-
and nanowires of platinum, gold, and silver, nanowires of iting an extremely large GF (320 at 2% tensile strain and 67
silicon and zinc oxide, Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs), and gra- at 0.2% tensile strain) and reproducible performance (1000
phene. The performance improvement in e-skins mainly strain cycles) [20]. The large GF resulted in an ultra-
relies on the utilization of new properties of active materials, sensitivity to very small deformations, making the sensors
control of microstructures, and design of device structure. able to detect slight motions such as changes in facial ex-
pression and pulse in the wrist.
The sensing mechanism plays a critical role in material
selection and device design. Traditional transduction meth- The stretchability and sensitivity of piezo-resistive sen-
ods include piezo-resistivity, capacitance, and piezoelectrici- sors can be further enhanced by using conductive porous
ty, and they are widely used in different types of sensors. In materials/structures that have excellent electrical and me-
addition, triboelectricity is a new mechanism that can be chanical properties. The pressure sensors based on homoge-
used to sense tiny stimuli and is extensively investigated nous 3D hybrid conductive network of carbon black /multi-
A Brief Review on e-Skin and its Multifunctional Sensing Applications Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 5

a 8000
b 18000
6000
12000
4000

6000
2000
DR (W)

DR (W)
0 0

-2000
-6000

-4000
-12000
0 5 10 15 20 25 0 5 10 15 20

Time (s) Time (s)

15000 2000
c d
1500
10000

1000

DR (W)
DR (W)

5000
500

0
0

-5000 -500
0 2 4 6 8 10 0 2 4 6 8 10

Time (s) Time (s)

e f

Little

Ring
DR/Roff

Middle
0.1

Index

Thumb

0 5 10 15 20

Time (s)
Fig. (1). Au nanowires/latex strain sensor for human motion detection. a) Forearm for muscle movement; b) cheek movement; c) throat
movement when speaking ‘hello’ continuously; and d) human wrist pulse detection. e) A glove with a strain sensor sewed on each finger.
f) Resistance change as a function of time for strain sensors on the glove at six different hand positions. Reproduced with permission from ref
[6]. Copyright (2015) John Wiley and Sons.

walled carbon nanotube/polyurethane sponge showed excel- swallowing [21]. Other porous materials such as 3D gra-
lent elasticity, high pressure sensitivity of 0.35 kPa-1, long- phene, PDMS micro cones were also used to build pressure
term reproducibility and durability (2000 cycles), as well as sensors [22-24]. Compared with film materials, 3D porous
fast response time of 45 ms, allowing them to detect small- structures allow more freedoms on performance control,
scale human motion including breathing, coughing, and through engineering the microstructures and pore sizes.
6 Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 Almansoori et al.

a 15 b 1.2 c 0.8
water water

Capacitance (pF)
EG EG
12 DMSO DMSO 0.6
PC reverse 0.8 PC reverse
9

DC/C0

DC/C0
terpineol air
air forward terpineol forward 0.4 EG
simulation
6 0.4 water
0.2 simulation
3
0 0.0 0.0
0 40 80 120 0 40 80 120 0 2 4 6 8
Pressure (kPa) Pressure (kPa) Strain (%)
d pressure e f 140
air water EG

Contact angle (o)

1 mm 120
air air
100
1 mm

PDMS PDMS PDMS

80
Crack DMSO PC terpineol
PDMS
60
liquid Air
100 mm

Channel air air

40
PDMS PDMS PDMS
water EG DMSO PC terpineol
symmetric condition
water PC Solvent

Fig. (2). (a) Capacitance of the crack-enhanced microfluidic pressure sensors prepared with five sensing liquids as a function of the applied
pressure over the range 0−140 kPa. (b) Normalized capacitance vs pressure. (c) Normalized capacitance of the sensors prepared with EG or
water as a function of the stretching strain, from 0 to 9%. (d) Schematic illustration of the channel and crack. (e) Simulation results obtained
under the initial conditions after filling the channel in each liquid. (f) Contact angles of the liquids on the PDMS surface. (EG: Ethylene Gly-
col, DMSO: Dimethyl Sulfoxide, PC: Propylene Carbonate) Reproduced with permission from ref [27]. Copyright (2017) American Chemi-
cal Society.

2.2. e-Skins Based on a Capacitive Mechanism fluidic channels sandwiched by two layers of silver nan-
owires. When external mechanical stimuli were applied, rub-
The capacitance is a parameter that measures the ability
ber channel layer was deformed to form microcracks on its
of charge storage; for a parallel plate capacitor, it is a func-
surface and the liquid was induced to penetrate, which
tion of dielectric constant, the area, and the distance between
changed the dielectric properties of the materials between the
the two electrodes. The principle of traditional capacitive
nanowire electrodes and thus changed the sensor capaci-
sensors is based on the factor that the applied pressure or
tance. This type of sensors could not only measure a wide
shear forces cause variations in distance or area between the
range of pressure (0.1-140 KPa), but also detect muscle
two plates which would change the capacitance. With this
movements, as shown in Fig. (2). The sensitivity was found
principle, highly-sensitive capacitive pressure sensors and
to be strongly depending on the initial fluid interface and the
super-stretchable capacitive strain sensors based on various
contact length between liquid and rack wall.
nanomaterials were developed. For instance, a novel multi-
functional capacitive strain sensor using CNTs was designed In addition to reading out the capacitance directly, capac-
[25]. The sensor was able to detect strains from below 1% up itive sensors could be fabricated into transistors that are
to 300% with outstanding durability even after thousands of composed of a gate electrode, source-drain electrodes, and a
cycles. It also exhibited excellent capacitive linearity and gate dielectric layer with a variable effective dielectric coef-
high sensitivity. The designed CNT-based strain sensor was ficient under mechanical deformation. The performance of
believed to have potential applications in wearable smart these transistor-type capacitive sensors depends on the air
electronics. A textile-based pressure sensor based on highly gap between the layers as the capacitance would change rap-
conductive fibers coated with dielectric rubber materials was idly after applying the pressure [28]. The transistor-based
also fabricated [26]. The conductive fibers were made by sensors have a high sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio due
coating an elastic rubber and Ag nanoparticle composites. to the amplification function of the transistors.
The obtained pressure sensor exhibited high sensitivity of The dielectric properties could also be read out in the
0.21 kPa-1, ultrafast response times of less than 10 ms, and format of AC impedance, such as the signal readout of all-
high stability over 10,000 cycles, as well as negligible hyste- graphene-based noncontact e-skins [29]. This kind of sensors
resis. The sensor was also demonstrated to be promising for was formed by directly writing a graphene oxide film with a
e-textiles applications by integration with gloves and clothes. femtosecond laser. Following a well-designed pattern, the
A microfluidic capacitive sensor array was fabricated for written areas were reduced into conductive materials that
e-skins [27]. The sensors were composed of rubbery micro- served as electrodes, while un-writing areas remained dielec-
A Brief Review on e-Skin and its Multifunctional Sensing Applications Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 7

(b) Compressing signal

e- flow

(c) Releasing signal

(b) (a) Initial state No e- flow
e- flow

Dipole
(d)
e- flow

(e)

e- flow
(d) Damping signal (c)
(e) Damping signal

Fig. (3). (a) Random orientation of the electric dipoles in the NiO@ SiO2/PVDF film at initial conditions. (b) When the compressive force is
applied, the piezoelectric potential is generated, and electron flow occurs. (c) As soon as the compressive force is released, the accumulated
electrons flow back in the reverse direction resulting in a reverse piezoelectric signal. (d) A weak forward piezoelectric potential is generat-
ed, and electron flow occurs due to a damping effect. (e) After recovering from the damping effect, the generator returns to its original state.
Reproduced with permission from ref [32]. Copyright (2018) American Chemical Society.

tric that was very sensitive to the moisture and used as the environmental safety [30]. Due to the stable structure and
sensing materials. The as-fabricated e-skins exhibited high superior mechanosensitivity (0.8 V/kPa) of such nanofibers,
sensitivity, fast response/recovery behavior, good long-term the fabricated e-skins not only had a self-power function but
stability, and excellent mechanical robustness. Since the was also able to emulate the spatiotemporal human sensa-
sensing was noncontact and the laser patterning process was tion, with a stable operation lifetime of 108,000 cycles (i.e.
involved, this type of e-skin possessed superior long-range up to 6 months). Wearable piezoelectric e-skins were also
and high-spatial-resolution responses, closer in fulfilling the prepared by electrospun poly (L-lactic acid) nanofibers to
emulation of human sensation. monitor human physiological signals and detect dynamic
tactile stimuli [31]. The piezoelectric charge coefficient was
2.3. e-Skins Based on Piezoelectricity enhanced by aligning the molecular orientations during elec-
The e-skins that use piezo-resistive and capacitive mech- trospinning, and the resulting mechanosensitivity of the sen-
anisms as transduction principles need an external power sors was about 22 V/N, which allowed the sensors/e-skins to
source (either power supply or batteries) to operate, which measure very subtle movements of muscles in internal or-
makes the system large and not practical. Piezoelectricity is a gans such as esophagus and trachea. The robust mechanical
mechanism that could generate electrical signals directly and strength of the nanofibers also enabled stable operation over
is often employed in e-skin sensors. When a mechanical 375,000 cycles. Extremely high sensitivity was achieved by
force is applied on certain so-called piezoelectric (PZT) ma- using a NiO@SiO2/PVDF nano-composites [32]. The fabri-
terials, the electric charges could be separated because of cated e-skin sensors could precisely detect the spatiotem-
electrical dipole moments, and then an electrical voltage is poral distribution of pressure both in static and dynamic con-
generated. Used as pressure/strain sensors, these PZT mate- ditions. Its operation mechanism is schematically shown in
rials with high PZT coefficient can convert mechanical forc- Fig. (3).
es and vibrations into electrical signals directly [7], and can A novel application of a self-powered e-skin for glucose
offer very high sensitivity and fast response. level detection in body fluid was reported [33]. The sensing
Along the way to develop piezoelectric materials other function was based on piezoelectric mechanism and surface
than inorganic and rigid PZT, fish gelatin nanofibers pre- enzymatic reaction coupling with GOx@ZnO (GOx: glu-
pared for bio e-skins using electrospinning technology is a cose-oxidase) nanowire arrays. Under applied deformation,
good choice to achieve flexibility, light weight, low cost, and the e-skin could actively output electric impulses via piezoe-
8 Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 Almansoori et al.

I Origin II Pressed III Releasing

d1 Kapton
d1
d3 d1
s d’
s
d2 d2 d2
PMMA

VI Pressing V Released IV
120

Pressing
d1 80
d1
d’ d3 40

d2 d2 Releasing
0

1.2 1.3 1.4

Fig. (4). Sketch of the operating principle of a triboelectric nanogenerator. Reproduced with permission from ref [35]. Copyright (2012)
American Chemical Society.

lectric effect while the output piezoelectric voltage was sig- touching objects and could work stably in both ambient and
nificantly affected by the glucose concentration in body flu- aqueous environments. Due to the unique design of a built-in
id. The experimental results provided a possible research triboelectric contact pair and an electrical shielding layer, an
field for the detection of body fluids. individual pixel of the fabricated tactile sensor array was
able to generate an open circuit voltage up to 1.613 V and a
2.4. e-Skins Based on Triboelectric Mechanism short circuit current density of 47.308 mA/m2 under 612.5
Self-powered sensors could also be realized through kPa.
triboelectric mechanism, which was previously demonstrated A fingertip inspired e-skin was fabricated using triboelec-
in nanogenerators [34, 35]. This is a new principle that can tric sliding sensing mechanism [10]. The e-skin consisted of
convert the external mechanical signals into electricity by a a double spiral electrode layer, a pure PDMS layer, and a
conjunction of triboelectric effect and electrostatic induction. porous CNT- PDMS layers, emulating the fingerprint, epi-
As depicted in Fig. (4), when two thin materials that exhibit dermis and dermis in a human finger, respectively. This e-
opposite tribo-polarity contact each other, charge transfer skin was capable of sensing sliding as well as pressure using
occurs at their interface and potential is created according to the double spiral CNT-PDMS electrodes. To be specific, in
this triboelectric effect. The potential can change with the order to detect sliding motion, the triboelectric nano-
contact conditions such as time and area that could be con- generator generated a voltage with different frequencies dur-
trolled by external mechanical interaction, and thus can be ing sliding. Similar devices were also fabricated by embed-
used as sensor signals. ding interlocked zinc oxide (ZnO) nano-rod arrays on a
A self-powered 2D e-skin based on triboelectric mecha- PDMS substrate [38]. Because of the triboelectric effect and
nism was fabricated using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) the interlock geometry of nano-rods, the e-skin could recog-
film sandwiched by two groups of carbon fibers (electrodes) nize several mechanical stimuli, including normal force,
[36]. This device can be attached to curved surfaces owing to bending and twisting. Its application in measuring arterial
the flexible nature of PDMS and carbon fibers. Whenever pulse pressure was successfully achieved via implementing it
the human finger touches the PDMS surface, positive charg- on a human wrist. More previous researches on self-powered
es are induced on the finger and negative ones on the top of e-skins based on triboelectric mechanisms could be found in
PDMS. The negative charges remain for a long time due to a review paper [39].
the insulating property of PDMS. Whenever the human fin- Triboelectric sensors could be integrated with a piezo-
ger is removed, the positive charge is induced on the elec- resistive sensor to use porous structures that eventually en-
trodes; As the finger repeatedly approaches and removes hance the sensitivity. Thus combining triboelectric and pie-
from the device, an induced current flows in/out of the elec- zo-resistive sensors is advantageous because more functions
trodes. This self-powered pressure sensing was found to have and applications like roughness detection and holding/ re-
a fast response time of approximately 68 ms, and a high sen- leasing are provided.
sitivity of around 0.055 nA KPa-1. The resolution of the fab-
ricated e-skins is 10 times higher than that of mechanorecep- 3. MULTIFUNCTIONAL e-SKINS
tors in biological skins. Another self-powered tactile sensing
array was fabricated from nano/microtexture enhanced tribo- Human skin is able to simultaneously detect different in-
electric nano-generators [37]. The sensors could produce formation, such as touch, friction, temperature, and humidi-
stable voltage signals despite the presence pf materials of ty. It is highly desired to have multifunctional e-skins for
A Brief Review on e-Skin and its Multifunctional Sensing Applications Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 9

a b 16.50 2.4
Temperature Pressure

Resistance (MW)

Resistance (MW)
16.45 2.2
2.0
16.40
1.8
16.35 1.6
16.30 1.4
1.2
16.25
1.0
0 10 20 30 40 50
Combo Temperature-Pressure Sensor
Time (s)
c d 18.0 4.0
Pressure

Resistance (MW)
Resistance (MW)
16.0 3.2

2.4
14.0

1.6
Combo Temperature-Pressure Sensor Temperature
12.0
0 5 10 15 20 25
Time (s)
e Cold Water f
12

(R-R0)/R0 (%)
5
(R-R0)/R0 (%)

10 4
8
3
6
2
4
2 1
0 0

Col Col
umn ws umn ws
s Ro s Ro
Combo Sensor Matrix Temperature Pressure

Fig. (5). Schematic illustration and simultaneous sensing performance of the combo e-Skin sensor. (a, b) Under exhaling stimulus, showing
temperature dependence but no pressure signal. (c, d) Under finger pressing, showing both temperature and pressure responses. (e) Schemat-
ic illustration of the combo sensor matrix with a cup of ice water placed onto it. (f, g) Distribution of the relative resistance change of the
temperature (f) and pressure (g) sensor arrays during the loading of a cup of ice water. Reproduced with permission from ref [44]. Copyright
(2017) American Chemical Society.

development of smart human-machine interfaces and weara- based on spring-like microstructured graphene/polymer mesh
ble human-health monitors. The big challenge along this network was developed to monitor pressure, stretch, vibra-
direction is that the integration of different functions in- tion and bending deformations at the same time [43]. Due to
volves mutual interferences, in addition to the requirements its high sensitivity for minute deformation, the sensor could
for sensitivity and stretchability [40, 41]. Here we summa- detect full-range human motions from tiny physiological
rize some research effort and progress towards multifunc- signals (phonation, respiration, and pulse beat) to large-scale
tional e-skins. physical activities (finger bending), which had potential for
e-skin applications.
3.1. Dual and Multi-Function
In addition to tactile sensing, temperature sensing is an-
By integrating the above-mentioned mechanisms in Sec- other fundamental function of human skins, and thus be-
tion 2, some tactile sensors applied in e-skins were made to comes a research focus in multi-functional e-skins. Tempera-
achieve dual or multi-functions. For example, a dual- ture sensors were integrated with pressure sensors to fabri-
functional sensor based on carbonized electrospun polyacry- cate a combo temperature-pressure dual-function e-skin
lonitrile/barium titanate (PAN-C/BTO) nanofiber film was based on flexible and transparent silk-nanofiber-derived car-
fabricated [42]. With the integration of piezo-resistive, pie- bon fiber membranes [44]. Continuous nanofiber membranes
zoelectric and triboelectric mechanisms, the sensor could were used for temperature sensors and the temperature de-
detect both pressure and curvature independently and simul- pendence of membrane resistance enabled the sensors to
taneously. The sensors had a GF of 1.12 deg-1 from 58.9° to monitor temperature; while fractured nanofiber membranes
120.2° and a working range of 28°~150° for flexural sensing, were used for strain sensors where the contact points be-
as well as high sensitivity of 1.44 V·N-1 in the range of tween fractured nanofibers enabled the sensors to detect ex-
0.15~25 N for self-powered force sensing. The e-skin had ternal strain. This structural design made each sensor passive
high stability over more than 60,000 cycles for either flex or to another stimulus, as shown in Fig. (5), enabling the inte-
force sensing. Another multifunctional skin-like strain sensor grated e-skin to precisely detect temperature and pressure at
10 Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 Almansoori et al.

Fig. (6). Reduced graphene oxide coated Nylon® fibers arranged for position sensing of the applied force. Reproduced with permission from
ref [52]. Copyright (2017) Elsevier.

the same time. The temperature sensor presented a sensitivity circuit, and a mobile monitoring interface [49]. The multi-
of 0.81% per °C, and the strain sensor showed a gauge factor functionalities of e-skins were achieved by an interlocked
of 8350 at 50% strain, facilitating the detection and distin- micro-dome array structure that used a Polyvinylidene Fluo-
guishing of exhaling, finger pressing, and spatial distribution ride and Reduced Graphene Oxide (PVDF/RGO) composite
of temperature and pressure. The similar temperature- material to produce piezoelectric, piezoresistive, and pyroe-
pressure dual functions were also achieved in e-skins based lectric signals. Applications of this flexible system include
on polyaniline hollow nanosphere composite films [45], with the sensing of pulse wave, voice, chewing/swallowing,
a high-pressure sensitivity of 31.6 kPa-1 and an accurate breathing, knee movements, and temperature.
temperature resolution of 0.08 per °C.
3.2. Spatial Resolution
It is possible to equip e-skins with artificial receptors to
extend the perception beyond the human skin. Magnetosensi- Spatial resolution is a key parameter/function for e-skins,
tive skins with directional perception, which enable magnetic and is mainly defined according to the density of sensors.
cognition, body position tracking, and touchless object ma- Traditionally a sensor array was fabricated through pattern-
nipulation, were realized by transfer printing of eight high- ing [29, 50], but in nanomaterial-based e-skin, it could be
performance spin valve sensors arranged into two Wheat- built by a more cost-efficient alternative strategy: cross-
stone bridges onto flexible polyimide foils [46]. This resem- stacking fiber-like sensors to form an addressable sensor
bles a new class of interactive devices extracting information array [51-53]. For example, commercial Nylon® fibers were
from the surroundings through magnetic tags and enables a modified with reduced graphene in a layer-by-layer fashion
variety of applications ranging from navigation and motion [52]. These coated fibers changed the resistance of 326 ± 21
tracking in robotics, regenerative medicine, as well as sports kΩ relative to its original resistance at an in situ bending
& gaming to interaction in augmented reality. radius of 1 mm. With the help of a read-out circuit, cross-
stacking fiber sensors could sense the position of the applied
Other multi-functions of sensing such as light sensing, force, as illustrated in Fig. (6). The similar sensor array was
atmosphere detection and self-clean can also be realized by made from reduced graphene oxide coated PVDF nanofibers
employing various nanostructures and nanocomposites. A sandwiched between PDMS films [54]. The sensors have a
flexible e-skin with tactile-perception, atmosphere-detection sensitivity of 15.6 kPa-1, the response time of 5 ms, great
and self-clean functions was synthesized based on tetrapod stability over 100,000 cycles, low operating voltage of 1.0 V,
ZnO (T-ZnO)/ PVDF nanostructures [47]. The piezoelectric and a detection limit as low as 1.2 Pa.
effect of T-ZnO caused the tactile-perception behavior, e.g.
the detection of elbow bending and finger pressing. The pie- 3.3. Towards Human Sensation
zoelectric/gas-sensing coupling effect of T-ZnO nanostruc- In addition to sensing functions, other properties includ-
tures supplied the atmosphere-detection. The piezo-photoca- ing touch feeling, self-healing, and safeguarding were also
talytic activity of T-ZnO nanostructures resulted in self-clean accounted for e-skins. Inspired by the keratin-elastin compo-
function. Another study reported integrated functions of sition of human skin, an e-skin was developed through sol-
sensing infrared (IR) light, temperature and tensile stress, vent-free extrusion based melt mixing of thermoplastic poly-
from an e-skin fabricated with a family of nano-composites urethane with the biowaste human hair keratin [55]. The
composed of multi-walled CNTs and High-Elastic form- composite e-skin showed a leg-skin equivalent coefficient of
stable Phase-Change Polymers (HEPCPs) [48]. The nano- friction value of 0.26 +/- 0.05, and a cheek skin equivalent
composites exhibited excellent performance in terms of flex-
average surface roughness (Ra) of 0.047 +/- 0.07 μm. It also
ibility, stretchability, sensitivity to IR, temperature and ten-
exhibited the cytoskeletal keratin intermediate filament net-
sile stress, which were attributed to the reversible form-
work like rheological behavior, porous morphology, and skin
stable phase transitions and high elasticity of the HEPCP
like positive triboelectric property, when the keratin content
substrate.
was 10 wt%. The sensors could clearly discriminate the
More functions were demonstrated by a flexible wireless touch feeling sensations of bare and glove protected human
e-skin sensor system that consists of a multi-functional sen- finger, but also distinguished the tactile sensations of differ-
sor device, a triple-mode reconfigurable readout integrated ent objects such as aluminum foil, cotton glove, wood, poly-
A Brief Review on e-Skin and its Multifunctional Sensing Applications Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 11

(a)

(b)

20 mm
20 mm 10 mm 5 mm

Fig. (7). (a) Schematic illustration of the self-healing conductor using polyelectrolyte multilayers coated with silver nanowires; (b) SEM
image of the films before and after healing, respectively. Reproduced with permission from ref 57. Copyright (2012) John Wiley and Sons.

imide, and poly(tetrafluoroethylene) by producing different PEM film. The healing process started with dripping a small
output signals. amount of water onto the crack, then the PEM film swelled
A versatile e-skin with safeguarding and multi-sensing and healed due to iconic bonds reformation [13, 57] as
shown in Fig. (7).
properties was developed by assembling Ag nanowires and
polyester (PET) film with hybrid shear stiffening poly-
mer/polydimethylsiloxane (SST/PDMS) matrix [56]. In addi- 4. LARGE-AREA LOW-COST e-SKINS BASED ON
tion to the basic sensing functions (gentle touching, stroking, ORGANIC THIN-FILM TRANSISTORS (OTFTS)
elbow bending, and speaking), the e-skin exhibited safe- OTFTs have been one of the hot research topics because
guarding performance due to the shear stiffening characteris- they provide flexible electronics with multiple functions over
tic of the materials: when the shear frequency changed from large areas at a low cost, and can be assembled on plastic
0.1 to 100 Hz, the storage modulus of SST/PDMS increased substrates at room temperature through solution processes
from 5.5 kPa to 0.39 MPa, exhibiting rate-dependent behav- [58, 59], offering wide applications, especially on e-skins.
ior. This allowed the e-skin to dissipate impact force from Previous studies mainly focused on the improvement of car-
720 to 400 N and increase buffer time from 0.9 to 2 ms. Thus rier mobility and environmental stability, because these
this e-skin was able to reveal the level of applied harsh im- drawbacks make OTFTs unable to compete with inorganic-
pact, and could precisely map the dynamic impact location based transistors [60]. The low mobility was believed to be
and pressure distribution. related to the weak intermolecular interaction forces (typical-
Along the way of mimicking human skin functions, e- ly van der Waals interactions) in organic semiconductors,
skins are also desirable to have self-healing ability. This was which introduced structural defects and charge traps that
demonstrated by adding healing agents (dynamic reversible yielded a complicated transport mechanism.
bonds) like metallosupra molecular polymer into e-skins. A Nevertheless, OTFTs have evident advantages when used
flexible and pressure-sensitive device with self-healing abil- for sensing in e-skins: they have the ability to generate an
ity and good mechanical and electrical properties was devel- apparent output of current signal upon a slight change in
oped using nickel nanostructured particles filled in a hydro- capacitance under external pressures [61], due to the intrinsic
gen-bonded organic supramolecular polymer matrix [13]. To and local amplification function of the transistors [62], which
achieve the self-healing e-skin ability, an inorganic conduc- provides improved signal-to-noise ratio in comparison with
tive material with high conductivity such as silver conduc- normal piezoresistive or capacitive sensors; the sensors and
tive nanowires was casted onto Polyelectrolyte Multilayer transistors can be integrated seamlessly to provide signal
(PEM) films which was the host polymer with the self- transduction and processing at the same time, offering true
healing capability. Both materials (inorganic and polymer) “smart” functions to e-skins [63]. Low cost and large area
are required to have good compatibility because the inorgan- processes as well as flexible nature of organic materials al-
ic material would undergo phase separation if it is not dis- low them to be easily integrated in monitoring systems at-
persed sufficiently, and the interaction between the two tached on human epidermis. As a result, flexible pressure
components is needed to drive the inorganic material to sensors derived from OTFTs are emerging as promising de-
move with the polymers for the purpose of assisting electri- vices in e-skin applications [64].
cal healing. The silver nanowires were drop-casted into the
12 Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 Almansoori et al.

However, realizing high sensitivity at a low operation poly(3-hexylthiophene) or P3HT, in which the addition of
voltage in OTFT-based pressure sensors is still quite chal- alkyl side-chains enhanced the solubility of the polymer
lenging. The overall approaches towards an improved sensi- chains [73]. Later organic transistors and inverter circuits
tivity include designing dielectric/electrode materials, using were fabricated on thin plastic substrates by printing and
new semiconductors, and optimizing device structures. Ini- showed good mechanical robustness, environmental (air,
tial OTFT sensors used elastic polymer directly. For exam- temperature, and humidity) stability, and stable electrical
ple, PDMS was formed into a microstructured layer to fabri- characteristics under compressive strains as large as 50%,
cate pressure sensors, delivering a sensitivity of up to 8.4 highlighting the suitability in the application of wearable
kPa-1 [65, 66]. Later the suspended gate structure was uti- sensors [74]. In fabricating OTFTs with printing technolo-
lized for sensitivity enhancement, based on an assumption
gies, the relatively poor device performance and low yield
that an air dielectric layer could intrinsically overcome the
are two major challenges, which were partially resolved by a
elastic limitation of the rubber/elastic dielectric layer. With
layering solution process. Together with using large crystal
such a device structure, together with exploration of various
grains and short channel lengths, OTFTs prepared with this
polymer dielectrics, flexible OTFT pressure sensors achieved
an excellent sensitivity of 192kPa-1, a low limit-of-detection method showed high mobility (1.2 cm2V-1s-1) and low
pressure of <0.5 Pa, and a response time of 10 ms, with which threshold voltages, representing major progress in the fabri-
the sensors were capable for the real-time detection of acous- cation of fully solution-processed organic OTFTs [75]. More
tic waves and wrist pulses [67]. A similar approach by incor- performance improvement was achieved by using a simple
porating a suspended mobile triboelectric layer into flexible spin-coating approach [76], in which the devices were fabri-
OTFTs was also demonstrated [68], and the pressure sensors cated from ultrathin 2,7-dioctyl[1]benzothieno[3,2-b][1]ben-
had a sensitivity as high as 210 kPa−1. More recently, poly- zothiophene (C8-BTBT). The resulting OTFTs had a mobility
electrolyte composites based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) as high as 11 cm2 V-1s-1, an on/off current ratio of over 106,
and polyacrylic acid (PAA) were used as dielectric layers in and a good yield ratio as high as 100%. Such performance as
a suspended semiconductor/dielectric/gate structure [69], and well as the above-mentioned benefits from full solution
the sensors delivered a record high sensitivity of 452.7 kPa−1. process indicated the potential for large area applications.
The operation voltage is another concern for OTFT sen-
sors in e-skin applications. When normal polymers such as CONCLUSION
PDMS, poly(perfluorobutenylvinylether), poly(methyl meth- To sum-up, e-skins could be fabricated using different
acrylate), polystyrene, poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroe- transduction mechanisms, materials and structural designs,
thylene), and polyurethane were used as the gate dielectrics, depending on the requirements of the specific applications.
the operating voltages were more than several tens of volts For practical applications, e-skins must be flexible and
(too high for wearable electronic applications) owing to their stretchable, have multifunctional sensing capabilities, and
low capacitances [70, 71]. In principle, the operating voltage could be prepared in large areas at a low cost. Nanomaterials
can be reduced by reducing the thickness of the dielectric
provide plenty of possibilities in achieving high sensing
layer. Although low voltage (<2 V) and ultra-compact OT-
properties. Some tactile sensors, especially piezoresistive
FTs were successfully fabricated with a so-called rolled-up
sensors based on porous nanomaterials, have already shown
nano-membrane technology by utilizing strained nanomem-
surpassed capabilities over biological skins in terms of sensi-
branes [72], more effort on lowering the operation voltages
in e-skin applications or any other application that requires tivity and response time. While OTFT-related full-solution
large-area electronics was focused on increasing the dielec- processes offer the possibility of large-area production at a
tric constant, because a minimum dielectric layer thickness low cost. Future opportunities lie in the fabrication of large-
of 1000 nm or more is preferred in order to achieve good area multifunctional intelligent e-skins that can respond to
reliability and high manufacturing yield. Using composite the variations in the external environment and provide better
dielectrics is a successful attempt in increasing dielectric spatial and temporal resolutions. In addition to sensing the
constant while maintaining good elasticity. By incorporating physical stimuli, chemical sensing and biological sensing are
PEG into PAA, a series of composite dielectrics were studied also desired functions. Developing flexible, stretchable, and
via a solution-processing method. It was found that the in- robust e-skins integrated with multi-functionalities and com-
troduction of 30 wt% PEG could shift the operation voltage patible with large-area implementation could be the research
to -0.7V, from a value of -14.2 V for OTFTs fabricated with focus in the near future.
pure PAA dielectrics. The sensors showed enhanced flexibil-
ity/robustness, and yielded a high sensitivity (452.7 kPa−1) LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
and excellent operating stability (over 5000 cycles) [69].
CNTs = Carbon Nanotubes
As mentioned earlier, large area processing with a low GF = Gauge Factor
cost is the main driving force in developing OTFT sensors/e-
GO = Graphene Oxide
skins. Solution processes, including large area stamping or
printing techniques, could eliminate lithography and thus HEPCPs = High-Elastic form-stable Phase-Change
have the potential in this regard. One of the first solution- Polymers
processable organic semiconductors used for OTFTs was OTFEs = Organic Thin Film Transistors
A Brief Review on e-Skin and its Multifunctional Sensing Applications Current Smart Materials, 2019, Vol. 4, No. 1 13

PAN-C/BTO = Carbonized Polyacrylonitrile / Barium [12] Dahiya, R. Large area electronic skin. In: Proceedings of 15th IEEE
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PET = Polyethylene Terephthalate opments in graphene-based tactile sensors and e-skins. Adv. Mater.
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PVA = Polyvinyl Alcohol [16] Ravi, S.K.; Wu, T.; Udayagiri, V.S.; Vu, X.M.; Wang, Y.N.; Jones,
PVDF = Polyvinylidene Fluoride M.R.; Tan, S.C. Photosynthetic bioelectronics sensors for touch
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PZT = Piezoelectric powered e-skins. Adv. Mater., 2018, 39, 1802290.
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SST = Shear Stiffening Polymer ings of 16th IEEE Sensors Conference, 2017, pp. 475-475.
[18] You, I.; Kim, B.; Park, J.; Koh, K.; Shin, S.; Jung, S.; Jeong, U.
T-ZnO = Tetrapod ZnO Stretchable e-skin apexcardiogram sensor. Adv. Mater., 2016, 28,
ZnO = Zinc Oxide 6359-6364.
[19] Wu, J.F.; Wang, H.T.; Su, Z.W.; Zhang, M.H.; Hu, X.D.; Wang,
Y.; Wang, Z.; Zhong, B.; Zhou, W.; Liu, J.; Xing, S.G. Highly flex-
CONSENT FOR PUBLICATION ible and sensitive wearable e-skin based on graphite nanoplatelet
Not applicable. and polyurethane nanocomposite films in mass industry production
available. ACS Appl. Mater. Interf., 2017, 44, 38745-38754.
[20] Park, J.B.; Belharouak, I.; Lee, Y.J.; Sun, Y.K. A carbon-free ru-
FUNDING thenium oxide/mesoporous titanium dioxide electrode for lithium-
oxygen batteries. J. Power Sourc., 2015, 295, 299-304.
This work was partially supported by the Khalifa Universi- [21] Huang, Y.; Zhang, J.Y.; Pu, J.F.; Guo, X.H.; Qiu, J.H.; Ma, Y.M.;
ty Internal L2 Research Funds (No. KUIRF L2 8474000001). Zhang, Y.G.; Yang, X.M. Resistive pressure sensor for high-sensitivity
e-skin based on porous sponge dip-coated CB/MWCNTs/SR con-
CONFLICT OF INTEREST ductive composites. Mater. Res. Express, 2018, 5, 065701.
[22] Dos Santos, A.; Pinela, N.; Alves, P.; Santos, R.; Fortunato, E.;
The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or Martins, R.; Aguas, H.; Igreja, R. Piezoresistive e-skin sensors pro-
otherwise. duced with laser engraved molds. Adv. Elect. Mater., 2018, 4,
1800182.
[23] Samad, Y.A.; Li, Y.Q.; Alhassan, S.M.; Liao, K. Novel graphene
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS foam composite with adjustable sensitivity for sensor applications.
ACS Appl. Mater. Interf., 2015, 7, 9195-9202.
Declared none.
[24] Wang, H.; Lu, W.B.; Di, J.T.; Li, D.; Zhang, X.H.; Li, M.; Zhang,
Z.G.; Zheng, L.X.; Li, Q.W. Ultra-lightweight and highly adaptive
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