Compact Biomimetic Hair Sensors Based on Single Silicon Nanowires for Ultrafast and Highly-Sensitive Airflow Detection

Wearable sensors that can mimic functionalities of human bodies have attracted intense recent attention. However, research on wearable airflow sensors is still lagging behind. Herein, we report a biomimetic hair sensor based on a single ultralong silicon nanowire (SiNW-BHS) for airflow detection. In our device, the SiNW can provide both mechanical and electrical responses in airflow, which enables a simple and compact design. The SiNW-BHSs can detect airflow with a low detection limit (<0.15 m/s) and a record-high response speed (response time <40 ms). The compact design of the SiNW-BHSs also enables easy integration of an array of devices onto a flexible substrate to mimic human skin to provide comprehensive airflow information including wind speed, incident position, incident angle, and so forth. This work provides novel-designed BHSs for ultrafast and highly sensitive airflow detection, showing great potential for applications such as e-skins, wearable electronics, and robotics.