Compact Biomimetic Hair Sensors Based on Single Silicon Nanowires for Ultrafast and Highly-Sensitive Airflow Detection.

Abstract

Wearable sensors that can mimic functionalities of human bodies have attracted intense recent attention. However, research on wearable airflow sensors is still lagging behind. Herein, we report a biomimetic hair sensor based on a single ultralong silicon nanowire (SiNW-BHS) for airflow detection. In our device, the SiNW can provide both mechanical and electrical responses in airflow, which enables a simple and compact design. The SiNW-BHSs can detect airflow with a low detection limit (<0.15 m/s) and a record-high response speed (response time <40 ms). The compact design of the SiNW-BHSs also enables easy integration of an array of devices onto a flexible substrate to mimic human skin to provide comprehensive airflow information including wind speed, incident position, incident angle, and so forth. This work provides novel-designed BHSs for ultrafast and highly sensitive airflow detection, showing great potential for applications such as e-skins, wearable electronics, and robotics.