Mechanically Robust and Linearly Sensitive Soft Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor for a Wearable Human-Robot Interaction System.

Soft piezoresistive pressure sensors play an underpinning role in enabling a plethora of future Internet of Things (IoT) applications such as human-robot interaction (HRI) technologies, wearable devices, and metaverse ecosystems. Despite significant attempts to enhance the performance of these sensors, existing sensors still fall short of achieving high strain tolerance and linearity simultaneously. Herein, we present a low-cost, facile, and scalable approach to fabricating a highly strain-tolerant and linearly sensitive soft piezoresistive pressure sensor. Our design utilizes thin nanocracked gold films (NC-GFs) deposited on poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) as electrodes of the sensor. The large mismatch stress between gold (Au) and PDMS induces the formation of secondary wrinkles along the pyramidal-structured electrode under pressure; these wrinkles function as protuberances on the electrode and enable exceptional linear sensitivity of 4.2 kPa-1 over a wide pressure range. Additionally, our pressure sensor can maintain its performance even after severe mechanical deformations, including repeated stretching up to 30% strain, due to the outstanding strain tolerance of NC-GF. Our sensor's impressive sensing performance and mechanical robustness make it suitable for diverse IoT applications, as demonstrated by its use in wearable pulse monitoring devices and human-robot interaction systems.

Low-Temperature Alignment of Conjugated Polymers by Plasticizer-Aided Physical Rubbing.

Rubbing-induced alignment of conjugated polymers is systematically investigated in terms of intra- and inter-molecular interaction. Various polymer films with a broad range of polymer chain rigidity are rubbed, and the degree of polymer chain alignment is quantitatively characterized. The rubbing technique effectively aligns crystalline domains in conjugated polymer films when the temperature approaches the critical rubbing temperature ( T r c $T_{\mathrm{r}}^{\mathrm{c}}$ ), at which the rearrangement and the slip of polymer chains are possible. A polymer with significant intra-/inter-molecular interactions exhibits higher T r c $T_{\mathrm{r}}^{\mathrm{c}}$ , though quantitative analysis reveals an intermediately aligned state at temperature Tr ' lower than T r c $T_{\mathrm{r}}^{\mathrm{c}}$ . This state originates from polymer chain aggregation in an amorphous domain. The intermediately aligned state can be controlled by plasticizer, which enables low-temperature alignment of high-mobility polymer film by reducing Tr ' to near 100 °C, increases the crystallinity, and improves the alignment effect at this state comparable to that of the completely aligned state obtained at extremely high temperatures.

Evaluation of mouse behavioral responses to nutritive versus nonnutritive sugar using a deep learning-based 3D real-time pose estimation system.

Animals are able to detect the nutritional content of sugar independently of taste. When given a choice between nutritive sugar and nonnutritive sugar, animals develop a preference for nutritive sugar over nonnutritive sugar during a period of food deprivation (Buchanan et al., 2022; Dus et al., 2011; 2015; Tan et al., 2020; Tellez et al., 2016). To quantify behavioral features during an episode of licking nutritive versus nonnutritive sugar, we implemented a multi-vision, deep learning-based 3D pose estimation system, termed the AI Vision Analysis for Three-dimensional Action in Real-Time (AVATAR)(Kim et al., 2022). Using this method, we found that mice exhibit significantly different approach behavioral responses toward nutritive sugar versus nonnutritive sugar even before licking a sugar solution. Notably, the behavioral sequences during the approach toward nutritive versus nonnutritive sugar became significantly different over time. These results suggest that the nutritional value of sugar not only promotes its consumption but also elicits distinct repertoires of feeding behavior in deprived mice.

Exploration driven by a medial preoptic circuit facilitates fear extinction in mice.

Repetitive exposure to fear-associated targets is a typical treatment for patients with panic or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The success of exposure therapy depends on the active exploration of a fear-eliciting target despite an innate drive to avoid it. Here, we found that a circuit running from CaMKIIα-positive neurons of the medial preoptic area to the ventral periaqueductal gray (MPA-vPAG) facilitates the exploration of a fear-conditioned zone and subsequent fear extinction in mice. Activation or inhibition of this circuit did not induce preference/avoidance of a specific zone. Repeated entries into the fear-conditioned zone, induced by the motivation to chase a head-mounted object due to MPA-vPAG circuit photostimulation, facilitated fear extinction. Our results show how the brain forms extinction memory against avoidance of a fearful target and suggest a circuit-based mechanism of exposure therapy.

Crocodile-Skin-Inspired Omnidirectionally Stretchable Pressure Sensor.

Stretchable pressure sensors are important components of multimodal electronic skin needed for potentializing numerous Internet of Things applications. In particular, to use pressure sensors in various wearable/skin-attachable electronics, both high deformability and strain-independent sensitivity must be realized. However, previously reported stretchable pressure sensors cannot meet these standards because they exhibit limited stretchability and nonuniform sensitivity under deformation. Herein, inspired by the unique sensory organ of a crocodile, an omnidirectionally stretchable piezoresistive pressure sensor made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)/silver nanowires (AgNWs) composites with microdomes and wrinkled surfaces is developed. The stretchable pressure sensor exhibits high sensitivity that changes negligibly even under uniaxial and biaxial tensile strains of 100% and 50%, respectively. This behavior is attributed to the microdomes responsible for detecting applied pressures being weakly affected by tensile strains, while the isotropic wrinkles between the microdomes deform to effectively reduce the external stress. In addition, because the device comprises all PDMS-based structures, it exhibits outstanding robustness under repeated mechanical stimuli. The device shows strong potential as a wearable pressure sensor and an artificial crocodile sensing organ, successfully detecting applied pressures in various scenarios. Therefore, the pressure sensor is expected to find applications in electronic skin for prosthetics and human-machine interface systems.

Tailored Uniaxial Alignment of Nanowires Based on Off-Center Spin-Coating for Flexible and Transparent Field-Effect Transistors.

The alignment of nanowires (NWs) has been actively pursued for the production of electrical devices with high-operating performances. Among the generally available alignment processes, spin-coating is the simplest and fastest method for uniformly patterning the NWs. During spinning, the morphology of the aligned NWs is sensitively influenced by the resultant external drag and inertial forces. Herein, the assembly of highly and uniaxially aligned silicon nanowires (Si NWs) is achieved by introducing an off-center spin-coating method in which the applied external forces are modulated by positioning the target substrate away from the center of rotation. In addition, various influencing factors, such as the type of solvent, the spin acceleration time, the distance between the substrate and the center of rotation, and the surface energy of the substrate, are adjusted in order to optimize the alignment of the NWs. Next, a field-effect transistor (FET) incorporating the highly aligned Si NWs exhibits a high effective mobility of up to 85.7 cm2 V-1 s-1, and an on-current of 0.58 µA. Finally, the single device is enlarged and developed in order to obtain an ultrathin and flexible Si NW FET array. The resulting device has the potential to be widely expanded into applications such as wearable electronics and robotic systems.

Cactus-Spine-Inspired Sweat-Collecting Patch for Fast and Continuous Monitoring of Sweat.

A sweat sensor is expected to be the most appropriate wearable device for noninvasive healthcare monitoring. However, the practical use of sweat sensors is impeded by irregular and low sweat secretion rates. Here, a sweat-collecting patch that can collect sweat efficiently for fast and continuous healthcare monitoring is demonstrated. The patch uses cactus-spine-inspired wedge-shaped wettability-patterned channels on a hierarchical microstructured/nanostructured surface. The channel shape, in combination with the superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic surface materials, induces a unidirectional Laplace pressure that transports the sweat to the sensing area spontaneously even when the patch is aligned vertically. The patch demonstrates superior sweat-collecting efficiency and reduces the time required to fill the sensing area by transporting sweat almost without leaving it inside the channel. Therefore, a sensor based on the patch responds quickly to biochemicals in sweat, and the patch enables the continuous monitoring of changes in sweat biochemicals according to their changes in the wearer's blood.

Characteristics of Plasma Flow for Microwave Plasma Assisted Aerosol Deposition.

To validate the possibility of the developed microwave plasma source with a novel structure for plasma aerosol deposition, the characteristics of the plasma flow velocity generated from the microwave plasma source were investigated by a Mach probe with pressure variation. Simulation with the turbulent model was introduced to deduce calibration factor of the Mach probe and to compare experimental measurements for analyses of collisional plasma conditions. The results show calibration factor does not seem to be a constant parameter and highly dependent on the collision parameter. The measured plasma flow velocity, which witnessed fluctuations produced by a shock flow, was between 400 and 700 m/s. The optimized conditions for microwave plasma assisted aerosol deposition were derived by the results obtained from analyses of the parameters of microwave plasma jet. Under the optimized conditions, Y2O3 coatings deposited on an aluminum substrate were investigated using scanning electron microscope. The results presented in this study show the microwave plasma assisted aerosol deposition with the developed microwave plasma source is highly feasible for thick films with >50 µm.

Enhancing Thermoelectric Power Factor of 2D Organometal Halide Perovskites by Suppressing 2D/3D Phase Separation.

Organometal halide perovskites (OHPs) exhibit superior charge transport characteristics and ultralow thermal conductivities. However, thermoelectric (TE) applications of OHPs have been limited because of difficulties in controlling their carrier concentration, which is a key to optimizing their TE properties. Here, facile control of the carrier concentration in Sn-based OHPs is achieved by developing 2D crystal structures. The 2D OHP crystals are laterally oriented using a mixed solvent, and the morphology and crystal structure of the coexisting 2D/3D hybrid structures are systematically controlled via doping with methylammonium chloride. The effective number neff of inorganic octahedron layers in the 2D OHPs shows a strong positive correlation with the carrier concentration. Moreover, the 2D structure induces the quantum confinement effect, which enhances both the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity. A 2D OHP shows a high power factor of 111 µW m-1 K-2 , which is an order of magnitude greater than the power factor of its 3D counterpart.

Molecular laterality encodes stress susceptibility in the medial prefrontal cortex.

Functional lateralization of the prefrontal cortex has been implicated in stress and emotional disorders, yet underlying gene expression changes remains unknown. Here, we report molecular signatures lateralized by chronic social defeats between the two medial prefrontal cortices (mPFCs). Stressed mice show 526 asymmetrically expressed genes between the mPFCs. This cortical asymmetry selectively occurs in stressed mice with depressed social activity, but not in resilient mice with normal behavior. We have isolated highly asymmetric genes including connective tissue growth factor (CTGF), a molecule that modulates wound healing at the periphery. Knockdown of CTGF gene in the right mPFC by shRNA led to a stress-resistant behavioral phenotype. Overexpression of CTGF in the right mPFC using viral transduction induces social avoidance while the left mPFC thereof prevent stress-induced social avoidance. Our study provides a molecular window into the mechanism of stress-induced socioemotional disorders, which can pave the way for new interventions by targeting cortical asymmetry.

Fingerpad-Inspired Multimodal Electronic Skin for Material Discrimination and Texture Recognition.

Human skin plays a critical role in a person communicating with his or her environment through diverse activities such as touching or deforming an object. Various electronic skin (E-skin) devices have been developed that show functional or geometrical superiority to human skin. However, research into stretchable E-skin that can simultaneously distinguish materials and textures has not been established yet. Here, the first approach to achieving a stretchable multimodal device is reported, that operates on the basis of various electrical properties of piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and piezoresistivity and that exceeds the capabilities of human tactile perception. The prepared E-skin is composed of a wrinkle-patterned silicon elastomer, hybrid nanomaterials of silver nanowires and zinc oxide nanowires, and a thin elastomeric dielectric layer covering the hybrid nanomaterials, where the dielectric layer exhibits high surface roughness mimicking human fingerprints. This versatile device can identify and distinguish not only mechanical stress from a single stimulus such as pressure, tensile strain, or vibration but also that from a combination of multiple stimuli. With simultaneous sensing and analysis of the integrated stimuli, the approach enables material discrimination and texture recognition for a biomimetic prosthesis when the multifunctional E-skin is applied to a robotic hand.

User-Interactive Thermotherapeutic Electronic Skin Based on Stretchable Thermochromic Strain Sensor.

User-interactive electronic skin (e-skin) with a distinguishable output has enormous potential for human-machine interfaces and healthcare applications. Despite advances in user-interactive e-skins, advances in visual user-interactive therapeutic e-skins remain rare. Here, a user-interactive thermotherapeutic device is reported that is fabricated by combining thermochromic composites and stretchable strain sensors consisting of strain-responsive silver nanowire networks on surface energy-patterned microwrinkles. Both the color and heat of the device are easily controlled through electrical resistance variation induced by applied mechanical strain. The resulting monolithic device exhibits substantial changes in optical reflectance and temperature with durability, rapid response, high stretchability, and linear sensitivity. The approach enables a low-expertise route to fabricating dynamic interactive thermotherapeutic e-skins that can be used to effectively rehabilitate injured connective tissues as well as to prevent skin burns by simultaneously accommodating stretching, providing heat, and exhibiting a color change.

Progress in Brain-Compatible Interfaces with Soft Nanomaterials.

Neural interfaces facilitating communication between the brain and machines must be compatible with the soft, curvilinear, and elastic tissues of the brain and yet yield enough power to read and write information across a wide range of brain areas through high-throughput recordings or optogenetics. Biocompatible-material engineering has facilitated the development of brain-compatible neural interfaces to support built-in modulation of neural circuits and neurological disorders. Recent developments in brain-compatible neural interfaces that use soft nanomaterials more suitable for complex neural circuit analysis and modulation are reviewed. Preclinical tests of the compatibility and specificity of these interfaces in animal models are also discussed.

Motion-Programmed Bar-Coating Method with Controlled Gap for High-Speed Scalable Preparation of Highly Crystalline Organic Semiconductor Thin Films.

Solution-processed organic semiconductor thin films with high charge carrier mobility are necessary for development of next-generation electronic applications, but the rapid processing speed demanded for the industrial-scale production of these thin films poses a challenge to control of their thin-film properties, such as crystallinity, morphology, and film-to-film uniformity. Here, we show a new solution coating method that is compatible with a roll-to-roll printing process at a rate of 2 mm s-1 by using a gap-controllable wire bar, motion-programming strategy, and blended active inks. We demonstrate that the coating bar, the horizontal motion of which is repeatedly brought to an intermittent standstill, results in an improved vertically self-stratified structure and a high crystallinity for organic active inks comprising a semiconducting small molecule and a semiconducting polymer. Furthermore, organic transistors prepared by the developed method show superior hole mobility with high operational stability (hysteresis and kink-free transfer characteristics), high uniformity over a large area of a 4 in. wafer, good reproducibility, and superior electromechanical stabilities on a flexible plastic substrate. The bar-coating approach demonstrated here will be a step toward developing industrial-scale practical organic electronics applications.

An ultrathin conformable vibration-responsive electronic skin for quantitative vocal recognition.

Flexible and skin-attachable vibration sensors have been studied for use as wearable voice-recognition electronics. However, the development of vibration sensors to recognize the human voice accurately with a flat frequency response, a high sensitivity, and a flexible/conformable form factor has proved a major challenge. Here, we present an ultrathin, conformable, and vibration-responsive electronic skin that detects skin acceleration, which is highly and linearly correlated with voice pressure. This device consists of a crosslinked ultrathin polymer film and a hole-patterned diaphragm structure, and senses voices quantitatively with an outstanding sensitivity of 5.5 V Pa-1 over the voice frequency range. Moreover, this ultrathin device (<5 µm) exhibits superior skin conformity, which enables exact voice recognition because it eliminates vibrational distortion on rough and curved skin surfaces. Our device is suitable for several promising voice-recognition applications, such as security authentication, remote control systems and vocal healthcare.

Publisher Correction: Medial preoptic circuit induces hunting-like actions to target objects and prey.

In the version of this article initially published, a sentence in the fifth paragraph of the Results read, "Immunohistochemistry revealed that VGLUT2+ MPA neurons rarely expressed CaMKIIα, which is a putative marker for subcortical glutamatergic neurons." It should have read, "Immunohistochemistry revealed that CaMKIIα+ MPA neurons rarely expressed VGLUT2, which is a putative marker for subcortical glutamatergic neurons." The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article. In the supplementary information originally posted online, the wrong version of Supplementary Fig. 1 was posted and some of the supplementary videos were interchanged. In the corrected Supplementary Fig. 1, the top right subpanel was added and the original Supplementary Fig. 1a was divided into 1a and 1b, with subsequent panels incremented accordingly. The legend was changed from "a. Schematic illustrating electrical lesioning of the rat anterior hypothalamus. Electrical lesion areas (gray) in five representative brain sections are depicted. Scale bar, 1 mm" to "a. Repetitive electrical stimulations of the anterior hypothalamus using bipolar electrodes (Left) caused a lesion at the hypothalamic area (middle, marked by asterisk) successfully in 7 rats (Right, overlapped images of brain sections located from the bregma -0.24 mm). Scale bar, 1 mm. b. Electrical lesion areas (gray) in five representative brain sections from anterior to posterior are depicted." The errors have been corrected online.

Medial preoptic circuit induces hunting-like actions to target objects and prey.

As animals forage, they must obtain useful targets by orchestrating appropriate actions that range from searching to chasing, biting and carrying. Here, we reveal that neurons positive for the α subunit of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent kinase II (CaMKIIα) in the medial preoptic area (MPA) that send projections to the ventral periaqueductal gray (vPAG) mediate these target-directed actions in mice. During photostimulation of the MPA-vPAG circuit, mice vigorously engaged with 3D objects and chased moving objects. When exposed to a cricket, they hunted down the prey and bit it to kill. By applying a head-mounted object control with timely photostimulation of the MPA-vPAG circuit, we found that MPA-vPAG circuit-induced actions occurred only when the target was detected within the binocular visual field. Using this device, we successfully guided mice to navigate specified routes. Our study explains how the brain yields a strong motivation to acquire a target object along the continuum of hunting behavior.

Field-scale electrolysis/ceramic membrane system for the treatment of sewage from decentralized small communities.

The electrolysis process adopting copper electrodes and ceramic membrane with pore sizes of 0.1-0.2 µm were consisted to a system for the treatment of sewage from decentralized small communities. The system was operated under an HRT of 0.1 hour, voltage of 24 V, and TMP of 0.05 MPa. The system showed average removals of organics, nitrogen, phosphorus, and solids of up to 80%, 52%, 92%, and 100%, respectively. Removal of organics and nitrogen dramatically increased in proportion to increment of influent loading. Phosphorus and solids were remarkably eliminated by both electro-coagulation and membrane filtration. The residual particulate constituents could also be removed successfully through membrane process. A system composed of electrolysis process with ceramic membrane would be a compact, reliable, and flexible option for the treatment of sewage from decentralized small communities.

Hyaluronic acid microneedle patch for the improvement of crow's feet wrinkles.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) has an immediate volumizing effect, due to its strong water-binding potential, and stimulates fibroblasts, causing collagen synthesis, with short- and long-term effects on wrinkle improvement. We investigated the efficacy and safety of HA microneedle patches for crow's feet wrinkles. Using a randomized spilt-face design, we compared microneedle patches with a topical application containing the same active ingredients. We enrolled 34 Korean female subjects with mild to moderate crow's feet wrinkles. The wrinkle on each side of the subject's face was randomly assigned to a HA microneedle patch or HA essence application twice a week for 8 weeks. Efficacy was evaluated at weeks 2, 4, and 8. Skin wrinkles were measured as average roughness using replica and PRIMOS. Skin elasticity was assessed using a cutometer. Two independent blinded dermatologists evaluated the changes after treatment using the global visual wrinkle assessment score. Subjects assessed wrinkles using the subject global assessment score. Skin wrinkles were significantly reduced and skin elasticity significantly increased in both groups, although improvement was greater in the patch group at week 8 after treatment. In the primary and cumulative skin irritation tests, the HA microneedle patch did not induce any skin irritation. The HA microneedle patch is more effective than the HA essence for wrinkle improvement and is a safe and convenient without skin irritation.

Efficacy and safety of a new microneedle patch for skin brightening: A Randomized, split-face, single-blind study.

BACKGROUND: Although microneedles are one of the best transdermal drug delivery systems for active compounds, few clinical trials have examined the safety and efficacy of brightening microneedle patches. AIMS: To determine the efficacy and safety of a newly developed whitening microneedle patch. PATIENTS/METHODS: A split-face study was designed for efficacy assessment with 34 Korean women applying the tested product (a whitening microneedle patch) on one cheek and a control whitening essence on the other. We objectively measured changes in melanin index values and skin brightness by mexameter and chromameter. Each participant also used global assessment to determine skin whitening. In addition, 55 participants were selected for primary skin irritation tests and repeated insult patch tests for safety assessments. RESULTS: Mean skin brightness and melanin indexes improved (P<.05) 4 weeks and 8 weeks after product use in both the whitening patch and whitening essence groups. Significant differences (P<.05) were observed between the whitening patch and whitening essence groups 8 weeks after use. Global assessment by participants showed moderate cosmetic outcomes for both the whitening patch and whitening essence groups. No adverse effects were reported, and primary irritation and human repeated insult patch tests revealed no irritation from the test product. CONCLUSIONS: A newly developed microneedle patch was effective and safe for skin brightening and would be a promising functional cosmetic product.