A Wearable Co-Located Neural-Mechanical Signal Sensing Device for Simultaneous Bimodal Muscular Activity Detection.

The co-located and concurrent measurement of both muscular neural activity and muscular deformation is considered necessary in many applications, such as medical robotics, assistive exoskeletons and muscle function evaluations. Nevertheless, conventional muscle-related signal perception systems either detect only one of these modalities, or are made with rigid and bulky components that cannot provide conformal and flexible interface. Herein, a flexible, easy-to-fabricate, bimodal muscular activity sensing device, which collects neural and mechanical signal at the same muscle location, is reported. The sensing patch includes a screen-printed sEMG sensor, and a pressure-based muscular deformation sensor (PMD sensor) based on a highly sensitive, co-planar iontronic pressure sensing unit. Both sensors are integrated on a super-thin (25 µm) substrate. The sEMG sensor shows a high signal-to-noise ratio of 37.1 dB, and the PMD sensor sensor exhibits a high sensitivity of 70.9 kPa -1. The responses of the sensor to three types of muscle activities (isotonic, isometric, and passive stretching) were analyzed and validated by ultrasound imaging. Bimodal signals during dynamic walking experiments with different level-ground walking speeds were also investigated. The application of the bimodal sensor was verified in gait phase estimation, and results show that the assembly of both modalities significantly reduce (p < 0.05) the average estimation error across all subjects and all walking speeds to 3.82%. Demonstrations show the potential of this sensing device for informative evaluation of muscular activities, and its abilities in human-robot interaction.

A Flexible Iontronic Capacitive Sensing Array for Hand Gesture Recognition Using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks.

Hand gesture recognition, one of the most popular research topics in human-machine interaction, is extensively used in visual and augmented reality, sign language translation, prosthesis control, and so on. To improve the flexibility and interactivity of wearable gesture sensing interfaces, flexible electronic systems for gesture recognition have been widely studied. However, these systems are limited in terms of wearability, stability, scalability, and robustness. Herein, we report a flexible wearable hand gesture recognition system that is based on an iontronic capacitive pressure sensing array and deep convolutional neural networks. The entire capacitive array is integrated into a flexible silicone wristband and can be comfortably and conveniently wrapped around the wrist. The pressure sensing array, which is composed of an iontronic film sandwiched between two flexible screen-printed electrode arrays, exhibits a high sensitivity (775.8 kPa-1), fast response time (65 ms), and high durability (over 6000 cycles). Image processing techniques and deep convolutional neural networks are applied for sensor signal feature extraction and hand gesture recognition. Several contexts such as intertrial test (average accuracy of 99.9%), intersession rewearing (average accuracy of 93.2%), electrode shift (average accuracy of 83.2%), and different arm positions during measurement (average accuracy of 93.1%) are evaluated.

Hand Gesture Recognition With Flexible Capacitive Wristband Using Triplet Network in Inter-Day Applications.

Human-machine interfaces for hand gesture recognition across multiple sessions and days of doffing and re-donning while maintaining acceptable recognition accuracy are still challenging. In this paper, a flexible wristband, which was integrated with a highly sensitive capacitive pressure sensing array, was used for inter-day hand gesture recognition. The performance of the entire system was further improved by utilizing a triplet network for deep feature embedding. Seven hand gestures were included into the gesture set, and inter-day experiments which lasted for five consecutive days with three sessions on each day were conducted. Five healthy subjects participated in the experiment. Between each session, the wristband was doffed, and re-donned before the next session. The triplet network achieved an average recognition accuracy of 91.98% across all the sessions of all the subjects, and yielded a higher classification result (p < 0.05) over the convolutional neural network trained with softmax-cross-entropy loss (with an average accuracy of 84.65%). Furthermore, we also found that the capacitive array size had an evident influence on the inter-day classification result. The array with the full size (thirty-two channels) achieved a higher average recognition accuracy over all the down-sampled arrays. This work demonstrated the feasibility of improving the hand gesture recognition performance over days of usage by fabricating a wearable, flexible multi-channel capacitive wristband and implementing the triplet network.

Track-Etch Membranes as Tools for Template Synthesis of Highly Sensitive Pressure Sensors.

Flexible pressure sensors with high sensitivity are highly desired in wearable electronics and human-machine interaction. Introducing the surface microstructures to the capacitive-type sensors can improve sensitivity and reduce response time. However, conventional techniques for the fabrication of highly sensitive and large-area pressure sensors still remain challenging. Here, a template synthesis approach is reported for fabrication of a large-area and low-cost ionic micropillar array templated from track-etch membranes. The pressure sensors based on the ionic micropillars gel dielectric layers exhibit a low limit of detection (∼0.5 Pa) and high sensitivity (14.83 kPa-1) in the low-pressure regime (0-5 kPa) and linear sensitivity (1.96 kPa-1) over a wide pressure range of 24-230 kPa. The versatility of the sensors is demonstrated in various human physiological signal detection scenarios and spatial pressure distribution. Furthermore, a real-time pressure mapping insole was fabricated on the basis of a large-area micropillared ionic gel dielectric layer combined with the screen-printing technique. The scalable and low-cost fabrication of pressure sensors with micropillars templated from a track-etch membrane provides new insights into the future development of health monitoring and human-machine interaction.

Comparison of Vacancy Sink Efficiency of Cu/V and Cu/Nb Interfaces by the Shared Cu Layer.

This paper provides a new method to compare and then reveal the vacancy sink efficiencies quantitively between different hetero-interfaces with a shared Cu layer in one sample, in contrast to previous studies, which have compared the vacancy sink efficiencies of interfaces in different samples. Cu-Nb-Cu-V nanoscale metallic multilayer composites (NMMCs) containing Cu/V and Cu/Nb interfaces periodically were prepared as research samples and bombarded with helium ions to create vacancies which were filled by helium bubbles. A special Cu layer shared by adjoining Cu/V and Cu/Nb interfaces exists, in which the implanted helium concentration reaches its maximum and remains nearly constant with a well-designed incident energy. The results show that bubble-denuded zones (BDZ) close to interfaces exist, and that the width of the BDZ close to the Cu/V interface is less than that of Cu/Nb interface. This result is explained by one-dimensional diffusion theory, and the ratio of vacancy sink efficiency between Cu/V and Cu/Nb interfaces is calculated. Conclusively, Cu/Nb interfaces are more efficient than Cu/V interfaces in eliminating vacancies induced by radiation.

Solution-Processed Cu9S5 as a Hole Transport Layer for Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells.

Organic-inorganic perovskite solar cells have seen tremendous developments in recent years. As a hole transport material, 2,2',7,7'-tetrakis( N, N-di- p-methoxyphenylamine)-9,9'-spirobifluorene (Spiro-OMeTAD) is widely used in n-i-p perovskite solar cells. However, it may lead to the perovskite film degradation due to the dopant lithium bis((trifluoromethyl)sulfonyl)amide (Li-TFSI), which has strong hydrophilicity. Cu9S5 is considered as a superior p-type transport material, which also has a favorable energy level matching with the highest occupied molecular orbital of Spiro-OMeTAD. Herein, a solution-processed organic-inorganic-integrated hole transport layer was reported, which is composed of the undoped Spiro-OMeTAD and Cu9S5 layer. Since there is no Li-TFSI doping, it is extremely conductive to the long-term stability of the solar cells. In the meantime, we proposed a method to adjust the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of SnO2 via nitrogen implantation (N:SnO2). The LUMO of SnO2 can be tuned from -4.33 to -3.91 eV, which matches well with the LUMO of CH3NH3PbI3 (-3.90 eV), and thus helps to reduce hysteresis. The modified hole and electron transport layers were applied in n-i-p perovskite solar cells, which achieve a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.10 and 96% retention of PCE after 1200 h in air atmosphere without any encapsulation.

Ion Implantation-Modified Fluorine-Doped Tin Oxide by Zirconium with Continuously Tunable Work Function and Its Application in Perovskite Solar Cells.

In recent years, perovskite solar cells have drawn a widespread attention. As an electrode material, fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) is widely used in various kinds of solar cells. However, the relatively low work function (WF) (∼4.6 eV) limits its application. The potential barrier between the transparent conductive oxide electrode and the hole transport layer (HTL) in inverted perovskite solar cells results in a decrease in device performance. In this paper, we propose a method to adjust WF of FTO by implanting zirconium ions into the FTO surface. The WF of FTO can be precisely and continuously tuned between 4.59 and 5.55 eV through different dopant concentration of zirconium. In the meantime, the modified FTO, which had a WF of 5.1 eV to match well the highest occupied molecular orbital energy level of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxylenethiophene):polystyrene sulfonate, was used as the HTL in inverted planar perovskite solar cells. Compared with the pristine FTO electrode-based device, the open circuit voltage increased from 0.82 to 0.91 V, and the power conversion efficiency increased from 11.6 to 14.0%.