Associate Professor Jaekyun Kim and his team at Hanyang University’s Department of Photonics and Nanoelectronics engineered the device to solve a persistent hurdle in robotics: the inability to tune sensitivity in large-area sensor arrays. Traditional triboelectric nanogenerators often struggle with scalability, but this new architecture minimizes pixel footprint by using a polydimethylsiloxane sensing layer stacked directly above an indium-tin-zinc-oxide transistor.

The system functions by monitoring current fluctuations within the transistor. When an object approaches, the accumulated triboelectric charge acts as a top-gate voltage, modulating the electrical flow. Because the bottom gate independently sets the baseline current, the device allows for precise, tunable sensitivity. In laboratory testing, a 10x10 array successfully registered finger touches and detected objects at distances up to 500 micrometers.

Durability remains a core feature of the design. The sensors maintained consistent performance over 1,000 contact-separation cycles, showing response and recovery times of 127 and 212 milliseconds respectively. Published in Nano Energy, the research offers a scalable path toward advanced human-machine interfaces, potentially improving safety and tactile feedback in healthcare robotics and wearable health-monitoring systems.