A Generating All-Polymeric Touching Sensing System

In this article, a generating all-polymeric touchpad is proposed. The system is based on a novel class of composites, named ionic polymer-polymer composites. The composites exploit the migration of mobile ions inside a three-layer membrane for generating an electrical signal when deformed. The touchpad consists of two sensors, which bend according to the touching point. The signals produced by the two sensors are conditioned by using a differential configuration, providing a symmetric output voltage. In this article, the working principle is described and modeled. Then, the realization of a prototype is shown in detail. Finally, the results of a measuring survey, performed to obtain touchpad characterization, are given. The proposed system demonstrates the possibility of realizing next-generation polymer-based devices for motion measurements.