Artificial tactile perception enabled by triboelectric effect

Abstract

Artificial tactile receptors based on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) hold great promise due to their high sensitivity and active pressure sensing. In this Perspective, we summarize the working mechanisms of triboelectric tactile sensors, highlighting their applications in pressure and sliding perception. Additionally, tribotronic transistors based on TENGs and synaptic transistors have attracted attention due to their neuromorphic computing capabilities for tactile information. The working mechanisms of tribotronic transistors are divided into the triboelectric potential model and the triboelectric electron transfer model. The physical mechanisms by which pressure and sliding forces change the channel conductance states of tribotronic transistors are analyzed in detail. Applications of tactile information perception and modal identification based on tribotronic transistors are presented to show their potential in near-sensor computing. Finally, the challenges faced by TENGs in large-scale tactile information perception and recognition are further discussed.