Unlike smart skin made from plastics and metals, hydrogels are as soft as natural skin.
Hydrogels can generate tension when touched, but previously scientists did not fully understand how this happens. So a team of researchers from UBC decided to study this process.
“The principle of operation of hydrogel sensors isin that they generate voltage and current in response to stimuli - pressure or touch. What we call the piezoelectric effect. But we didn’t know exactly how these stresses are created,” said Yuta Dobashi, lead author of the study.
Working under the guidance of a UBC researcherDr. John Madden, Dobashi developed hydrogel sensors containing salts with positive and negative ions of different sizes. He and his colleagues used magnetic fields to track exactly how ions move when pressure is applied to the sensor.
“When you apply pressure to the gel, itdistributes ions in the liquid at different speeds and an electrical signal is obtained. Positive ions, which tend to be smaller, move faster than larger negative ions. Therefore, they are unevenly distributed, this creates an electric field, which makes the piezo ion sensor work, ”- lead author of the study, Yuta Dobashi.
The authors said that with the help of their discovery, it will be possible to create sensors that directly interact with cells and the nervous system.
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