Flexible Noncontact Sensing for Human–Machine Interaction

• Published in: Advanced materials (Weinheim) 2021-04, Vol.33 (16), p.e2100218-n/a
• Main Authors: Lu, Lijun, Jiang, Chunpeng, Hu, Guosheng, Liu, Jingquan, Yang, Bin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alarm systems; Asthma; Asthma - diagnosis; Biocompatible Materials - chemistry; Biosensing Techniques - instrumentation; Biosensing Techniques - methods; Electric appliances; Electric contacts; Electrodes; Electronics; flexible devices; Functional groups; Graphene; Graphite - chemistry; Humans; Humidity; humidity sensing; hydrogen bonds; Internet of Things; Mobile Applications; Multilayers; Nanofibers; Nanofibers - chemistry; noncontact human–machine interaction; Polyamide resins; polymers; Respiratory Rate; Sensor arrays; Sensors; Wear; Wearable Electronic Devices
• ISSN: 0935-9648; 1521-4095
• DOI: 10.1002/adma.202100218

From typical electrical appliances to thriving intelligent robots, the exchange of information between humans and machines has mainly relied on the contact sensor medium. However, this kind of contact interaction can cause severe problems, such as inevitable mechanical wear and cross‐infection of bacteria or viruses between the users, especially during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Therefore, revolutionary noncontact human–machine interaction (HMI) is highly desired in remote online detection and noncontact control systems. In this study, a flexible high‐sensitivity humidity sensor and array are presented, fabricated by anchoring multilayer graphene (MG) into electrospun polyamide (PA) 66. The sensor works in noncontact mode for asthma detection, via monitoring the respiration rate in real time, and remote alarm systems and provides touchless interfaces in medicine delivery for bedridden patients. The physical structure of the large specific surface area and the chemical structure of the abundant water‐absorbing functional groups of the PA66 nanofiber networks contribute to the high performance synergistically. This work can lead to a new era of noncontact HMI without the risk of contagiousness and provide a general and effective strategy for the development of smart electronics that require noncontact interaction. Flexible noncontact sensing based on a high‐sensitivity humidity sensor is realized by anchoring multilayer graphene (MG) into electrospun polyamide (PA) 66 for human–machine interaction systems, which can achieve not only asthma detection, via monitoring the respiration rate in real time, and remote alarm systems, but also touchless interfaces in medicine delivery for bedridden patients.