Graphene Aerogel-Based Flexible Pressure Sensor for Physiological Signal Detection and Human–Machine Interaction

TL;DR

A new flexible pressure sensor made from graphene aerogel can detect subtle pressures and is used for physiological monitoring and human-machine interaction.

Contribution

A high-sensitivity, stable pressure sensor using reduced graphene oxide aerogel for smart robotics and human-machine interfaces.

Findings

The sensor has a sensitivity of 698.96 kPa−1 and detects pressures as low as 1 Pa.

It maintains stability over 20,000 cycles and enables teleoperation with 100% food recognition accuracy.

The sensor can be used as an artificial electronic skin for spatial pressure mapping.

Abstract

Reduced graphene oxide aerogel (rGOA) was prepared via freeze-casting, featuring an ultra-light density (10 mg cm−3) and a unique anisotropic structure, which bring advantages to pressure sensing.The rGOA-based pressure sensor exhibits a sensitivity as high as 698.96 kPa−1, a detection range as wide as 100 kPa, and a cyclic stability of over 20,000 cycles.The integration of rGOA with manipulators enables teleoperation, stable grasping of fragile objects with force-feedback and 100% accuracy in food recognition.

Reduced graphene oxide aerogel (rGOA) was prepared via freeze-casting, featuring an ultra-light density (10 mg cm−3) and a unique anisotropic structure, which bring advantages to pressure sensing.

The rGOA-based pressure sensor exhibits a sensitivity as high as 698.96 kPa−1, a detection range as wide as 100 kPa, and a cyclic stability of over 20,000 cycles.

The integration of rGOA with manipulators enables teleoperation, stable grasping of fragile objects with force-feedback and 100% accuracy in food recognition.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-026-02109-8.

Despite extensive development of flexible pressure sensors, it is still difficult for them to simultaneously achieve high precision and a large response to subtle pressures. To address these challenges, this work demonstrates a flexible pressure sensing platform that features the reduced graphene oxide aerogel sandwiched between a polydimethylsiloxane encapsulation layer and a thin polyimide film with interdigital electrodes. The resulting pressure sensor exhibits a high sensitivity of 698.96 kPa−1 and a low limit of detection (~ 1 Pa), and outstanding stability over 20,000 loading/unloading cycles. Besides monitoring various physiological signals and human motions, the flexible pressure sensors can be configured into an array layout as a smart artificial electronic skin to recognize the spatial pressure distribution. The flexible pressure sensor can also be integrated with signal processing and wireless communication modules as a teleoperation system for gesture recognition, force feedback control, and kitchen food recognition, highlighting future potential toward smart robotics and human–machine interfaces.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40820-026-02109-8.

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