Mechanical–electric dual characteristics solid–liquid interfacing sensor for accurate liquid identification

Abstract

The demand for portable and rapid identification of liquids has challenged traditional laboratory methods. Here, we propose a high-accuracy liquid identification strategy that integrates water droplet mechanics and solid–liquid interface contact electrification. By applying non-Hookean mechanical properties of droplets, we fabricate a lotus leaf-inspired ZnO–Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) superhydrophobic solid–liquid sensor. Based on the special mechanical–electric coupling interface, it achieves the highest droplet pressure sensitivity of 281 mV/Pa. We have made a breakthrough in detecting diverse solution composition with a high monitoring resolution of 5 nM metal ions and 0.1% of alcohol concentration. Through the design of double-stacked devices, triboelectric signals are able to be decoupled into mechanical and contact electrification dual-mode signals. With the integration of a gated recurrent unit (GRU) model, intelligent identification of ten liquids has reached an ultrahigh accuracy of 99%, opening up a pathway for portable liquid monitoring.