Nanodevice for Imaging Normal Stress Distribution With Application in Sensing Texture and Feel' by Touching

摘要

Touch is one of the five senses designed by nature for survival. 'Touch' may (partially) be characterized as a sensory operation for measuring texture and softness of an object by mechanical contact. We propose to design, fabricate, study and develop, a novel touch sensor made from nanoparticles with broad range of other applications such as, ultrasound medical imaging/diagnostics, smart materials, and non-destructive diagnostics of large structures. The nanodevice is a self-assembled thin-film sensor that will convert static or dynamic (compressive) normal stress distribution to, (i) visible-light, and/or, (ii) electrical current or voltage. The optical and/or electrical signal is proportional to the magnitude of local stress on the sensor's active area. By detecting the light intensity distribution and/or, probing the current distribution on the active area using an electrode array, the stress distribution can be obtained at (potentially) spatial resolution of.