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Functional Materials Based Human-Machine Interactivities

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Shuo Gao

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Guest Editor

School of Instrumentation and Optoelectronic Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing 100191, China
Interests: functional materials; wearable devices and systems; flexible electronics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Prof. Dr. Hanbin Ma

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Guest Editor

Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, Chinese Academy of Science, Suzhou 215163, China
Interests: thin-film; bio-sensor development; printable electronics

Dr. Dai Jiang

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Guest Editor

Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK
Interests: biomedical sensors; human-machine interactivity and systems; flexible electronics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the fast development of material science and engineering, the field of human-machine interactivity (HMI) is experiencing a great change. Conventional mouse and keyboard based HMIs are being replaced by functional materials based flexible touch interfaces and wearable devices. HMIs once only depicted in science fictions are becoming a reality. Diverse novel human-machine interactive systems that based on functional materials such as piezoelectric, piezoresistive and pyroelectric, are continuously reported by researchers all around the world. Academia and industry are paying boosting attentions to this hot area, generating fruitful new and advanced prototypes and products for customers.

It is my pleasure to invite you all to submit research articles, review papers and short communications focused on functional materials based human-machine interactive applications, including but not limited to: materials fabrication process, material characterization, advanced and new measurement methods, smart skin for robotics, 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional touch interfaces, wearable and large area bio-sensors, etc

Prof. Dr. Shuo Gao
Prof. Dr. Hanbin Ma
Dr. Dai Jiang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

functional materials
human-machine interactivity
wearable and flexible electronics
touch interface
smart skin
multidimensional sensor

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 3133 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comparison of Metallization Schemes on Glass Dielectrics for X-Band Glass Antennas and Energy Harvesting

by Longzhu Cai and Qiushi Yu

Materials 2021, 14(23), 7283; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14237283 - 28 Nov 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1688

Abstract

We prepare and test four types of glass antennas for X-band applications and energy harvesting. These antennas are made of three different glass metallization schemes, including conductive copper foil (CCF), conductive silver paste (CSP) and indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film. Compared with conventional microstrip patch antennas, the dielectric substrate materials of these designs are replaced with silicon-boron glass (ε_r = 6, tangent δ = 0.002). The antenna with CCF as a radiator and ground plane (case one) is compared with the antenna with ITO replacing the radiator (case two) and ground plane (case three), respectively, and the glass antenna made of CSP (case four) is also presented. In this paper, these four types of glass antennas are measured and analyzed, and a comparison of the fabrication process and performance of these antennas is demonstrated. This study could contribute to the development of human-machine interactivity (HMI) systems with glass dielectric substrates. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials Based Human-Machine Interactivities)

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Review

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23 pages, 2784 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceReview

Comparison between Piezoelectric and Piezoresistive Wearable Gait Monitoring Techniques

by Zhiyuan Zhang, Zhenyu Xu, Wenbin Chen and Shuo Gao

Materials 2022, 15(14), 4837; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma15144837 - 12 Jul 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2363

Abstract

Insole plantar stress detection (PSD) techniques play an important role in gait monitoring. Among the various insole PSD methods, piezoelectric- and piezoresistive-based architectures are broadly used in medical scenes. Each year, a growing number of new research outcomes are reported. Hence, a deep understanding of these two kinds of insole PSD sensors and state-of-the-art work would strongly benefit the researchers in this highly interdisciplinary field. In this context, this review article is composed of the following aspects. First, the mechanisms of the two techniques and corresponding comparisons are explained and discussed. Second, advanced materials which could enhance the performance of current piezoelectric and piezoresistive insole prototypes are introduced. Third, suggestions for designing insole PSD prototypes/products for different diseases are offered. Last, the current challenge and potential future trends are provided. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials Based Human-Machine Interactivities)

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20 pages, 3667 KiB

Open AccessReview

Piezoelectric Based Touch Sensing for Interactive Displays—A Short Review

by Ziting Liu and Zhe Fu

Materials 2021, 14(19), 5698; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma14195698 - 30 Sep 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1779

Abstract

Interactive display is an important part of electronic devices. It is widely used in smartphones, laptops, and industrial equipment. To achieve 3-dimensional detection, the piezoelectric touch panel gains great popularity for its advantages of high sensitivity, low cost, and simple structure. In order to help readers understand the basic principles and the current technical status, this article introduces the work principles of the piezoelectric touch panel, widely-used piezoelectric materials and their characteristics, as well as the applications of the piezoelectric touch panel. The challenges and future trends are also discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Materials Based Human-Machine Interactivities)

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