Lead Zirconate Titanate (a piezoelectric ceramic)-Based thermal and tactile bimodal organic transistor sensors

Abstract Multifunctional transistor sensors hold great potential in the next generation of smart portable electronics and artificial intelligence products owing to their very large-scale integration capability. Wearable thermal and tactile bimodal sensors are among the most emerging and attractive multifunctional devices having the ability of mimicking skin-like perception. Piezoelectric ceramics have been widely used in pressure sensing devices, however, their potential in thermal and tactile bimodal transistor sensors is rarely explored. Herein, organic thermal and tactile bimodal transistor sensors with a simple structure and fabrication technology are developed based on a piezoelectric ceramic substrate, Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT). The as-fabricated devices demonstrate high sensitivity and linear response to the temperature change from 20 °C to 60 °C, and also exhibit sensitive response to the tapping on the device surface. These devices render a step forward towards the practical applications of human-interactive devices such as e-skin and smart tactile sensing systems.