A multifunctional helical fiber operated in non-contact/contact dual-mode sensing aiming for HMI/VR applications

The demand for information exchange between humans and machines or virtual spaces is growing rapidly. However, traditional contact sensing makes the spread of bacteria and viruses, and single sensing also limits the development. Hence, as an innovative product, a non-contact/contact dual-mode sensor has to come into being, which consists of stretchable bacterial cellulose (BC)-BC/graphene (Gr) helical fibers. The helical fiber with a sheath-core structure, and the degradable BC as the sheath and BC/Gr as the core, which exhibit a tensile strength of 113 MPa and elongation at a break of 477%. Under non-contact mode, the capacitance change (Delta C/ C-0) arrives to -0.6 (-60%) when the approaching distance is 0.5 cm, and the remote communication through capacitance changes when it is sewn on the lab-gown as a wearable wireless non-contact phone. Under contact mode, action guidance and detection are achieved successfully through interaction with virtual space. All in all, this work will lead to a new era of non-contact human-machine interfaces (HMI) and dual-mode sensors, providing a solid research foundation and leading thinking for wearable electronic products that require noncontact or multi-function Internet of Things (IoT) and virtual reality (VR) field.