Fully Integrated Mechanoluminescent Devices with Nanometer-Thick Perovskite Film as Self-Powered Flexible Sensor for Dynamic Pressure Sensing

Flexible pressure sensors have numerous future applications in artificial electronic skins, foot ulcer detection, structural health monitoring, soft robotics, and wearable technology. We, herein, report an efficient, low-cost manufacturing technique to construct a compact, sensitive, robust yet flexible pressure sensor by fully integrating the mechanoluminescent device with nanometer thick organometal halide perovskite. The mechanoluminescent-perovskite flexible sensor does not require any power source at the sensing location. The sensor was subjected to repeated pressure and generated a distinct electrical current signal corresponding to each pressure cycle. The current intensity increases linearly with the increase of applied pressure on the sensor, which is desirable. Our sensor can detect pressure as low as 11 kPa with a large sensing range and a sensitivity of 0.095 kPa–1. The sensor displays consistent signals over 1000 cycles, which demonstrates its potential as a reliable sensor in practical applications such as structural health monitoring. Our approach of efficiently harvesting mechanoluminescent light via integrated light-absorbing nanometer thick perovskite might open a window for advanced research in self-powered mechanoluminescent-perovskite-based devices.