Nanodevice for Imaging Normal Stress Distribution with Application in Sensing Texture and 'Feel' by Touching

触觉是大自然为生存而设计的五种感官之一。触摸可以(部分)被描述为通过机械接触来测量物体的质地和柔软度的感官操作。我们计划设计、制造、研究和开发一种新型的、大面积的、由纳米颗粒制成的触觉传感器。这种纳米器件是一种自组装的薄膜传感器，它将静态或动态(压缩)的正应力分布转换为(I)可见光，和(Ii)电流或电压。光和/或电信号与传感器有效区域上的局部应力大小成正比。通过检测光强分布和/或使用电极阵列探测有源区上的电流分布，潜在地可以在1 mm光斑的空间分辨率下以小于毫秒的速度获得应力分布。重要的是，传感器的动态范围和灵敏度可以调节。由于高速(尤其是电信号)，外部刺激(即应力分布)可能是机械力、压力或超声波辐射。该装置的结构将是一个合适的试验台，用于研究纳米颗粒/纳米颗粒和纳米颗粒/绝缘体结间电子传输的物理和特性，两者都是单粒子分辨率。这项基础性研究可能会导致设计规则，以优化所提出的传感器的设备性能，也被称为“人造皮肤”。薄膜器件可以支撑在柔性或刚性衬底上或直接自组装在柔性或刚性衬底上。该传感器还将有广泛的其他应用，如超声医学成像/诊断、智能材料和大型结构的无损诊断。

Touch is one of the five senses designed by nature for survival. 'Touch' may (partially) be characterized as a sensory operation for measuring texture and softness of an object by mechanical contact. We propose to design, fabricate, study and develop, a novel, large-area, touch sensor made from nanoparticles. The nanodevice is a self-assembled thin-film sensor that will convert static or dynamic (compressive) normal stress distribution to, (i) visible-light , and/or, (ii) electrical current or voltage. The optical and/or electrical signal is proportional to the magnitude of local stress on the sensor's active area. By detecting the light intensity distribution and/or, probing the current distribution on the active area using an electrode array, potentially, the stress distribution can be obtained in less than millisecond speeds at spatial resolution of 1 mm spot. Importantly, the dynamic range and the sensitivity of the sensor can be tuned. Due to high speed (especially for electrical signal), the external stimulus (i.e., stress distribution) may be mechanical force, pressure or ultrasound radiation. The structure of the device will be a suitable test-bed to study physics and characteristics of electronic transport across nanoparticle/nanoparticle and nanoparticle/insulator junctions, both at single particle resolution. This fundamental study will potentially lead to design rules to optimize the device performance of the proposed sensor, also dubbed 'Artificial Skin'. The thin-film device may be supported or directly self-assembled on flexible or rigid substrate. The sensor will have broad range of other applications such as, ultrasound medical imaging/diagnostics, smart materials, and non-destructive diagnostics of large structures.