A Stretchable Organic Electrochemical Transistor Mechano‐Synapse With Biomimetic Mechanotransduction for Intelligent Soft Electronic Skin

ABSTRACT Tactile perception relies on early preprocessing of signals from adapting afferents; in particular, synapse‐like coupling between afferent nerve fibers and adapting mechanoreceptors supports transduction and sensory memory, enabling efficient central representations of tactile information. Inspired by the sustained slow‐adapting (SA) responses of Merkel cells with fast cation influx through Piezo‐2 channels and subsequent sustained Ca 2+ influx through voltage gated Ca 2+ channels, we present a stretchable SA mechano‐synapse (sSA‐MS) with biomimetic mechanotransduction. The device utilizes an ionic polarization‐controlled gate dielectric of stacked N‐ and P‐like ionogels in an organic electrochemical transistor to create the ion redistribution that strengthens excitatory post‐synaptic current (EPSC) hysteresis and integrates reception, adaptation, and memory within a single unit device. Under sub‐second static contact, the sSA‐MS generates EPSC signatures with separable pressure and material components and can interface directly with a compact machine learning model, demonstrating single device disentanglement and in‐sensor processing. Together, these advances outline a practical route to edge intelligent, stretchable electronic skin ( e ‐skin) with multimodal tactile perception, helping narrow the gap between artificial and human touch.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advanced Functional Materials
Published
2026-09-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.78465
Primary Topic
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
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article

A Stretchable Organic Electrochemical Transistor Mechano‐Synapse With Biomimetic Mechanotransduction for Intelligent Soft Electronic Skin

Nae‐Eung Lee, Seok Ju Hong, Zhenguo Piao, Minhyuk Park et al.
Advanced Functional Materials
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
article

A Stretchable Organic Electrochemical Transistor Mechano‐Synapse With Biomimetic Mechanotransduction for Intelligent Soft Electronic Skin

Nae‐Eung Lee, Seok Ju Hong, Zhenguo Piao, Minhyuk Park, T. T. Dieu, Yanqing Zhang, Yifan Li
article en

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tactile perception relies on early preprocessing of signals from adapting afferents; in particular, synapse‐like coupling between afferent nerve fibers and adapting mechanoreceptors supports transduction and sensory memory, enabling efficient central representations of tactile information. Inspired by the sustained slow‐adapting (SA) responses of Merkel cells with fast cation influx through Piezo‐2 channels and subsequent sustained Ca 2+ influx through voltage gated Ca 2+ channels, we present a stretchable SA mechano‐synapse (sSA‐MS) with biomimetic mechanotransduction. The device utilizes an ionic polarization‐controlled gate dielectric of stacked N‐ and P‐like ionogels in an organic electrochemical transistor to create the ion redistribution that strengthens excitatory post‐synaptic current (EPSC) hysteresis and integrates reception, adaptation, and memory within a single unit device. Under sub‐second static contact, the sSA‐MS generates EPSC signatures with separable pressure and material components and can interface directly with a compact machine learning model, demonstrating single device disentanglement and in‐sensor processing. Together, these advances outline a practical route to edge intelligent, stretchable electronic skin ( e ‐skin) with multimodal tactile perception, helping narrow the gap between artificial and human touch.

Advanced Functional Materials
Sungkyunkwan University (KR)
Openalex Percentile: Top 21%
Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
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