Texture and sliding motion sensation with a triboelectric-nanogenerator transducer

A tactile sensor for texture and sliding motion sensing based on triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) transducer is reported here. The tactile sensor demonstrates the capability of recording the texture and sliding motion by outputting a sequence of electrical pulses. The device structure is simplified by using a TENG instead of a piezoelectric nano-generator. A trench structure of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film right over the electrode provides free bending space and significantly improves the sensitivity. A PDMS ridge serves as an artificial fingerprint mimicking fingerprints in the device. The electric pulses are perfectly repeated as the device scans the same area of a ribbon wire and the frequency of the pulses faithfully records the speed of the sliding motion. The device also demonstrates the capability of detecting punch holes on a nonwoven cloth. The results of this work demonstrate the possibility of using TENG to develop a nano-generator type tactile sensor.