Freestanding VO₂ membranes on epidermal nanomesh for ultra-sensitive correlated breathable sensors

The interest in highly sensitive sensors is rapidly increasing for detecting very tiny signals for Internet of Things devices. Here, we achieve ultra-sensitive correlated breathable sensors based on freestanding VO₂ membranes. We fabricate the membranes by growing VO₂ films onto sacrificial Sr₃Al₂O₆ layer grown on SrTiO₃, selectively dissolving the Sr₃Al₂O₆ in water, and then rendering freestanding VO₂ membrane on nanomesh. The nanomeshes are extremely flexible, sweat permeable, and readily skin-adhesive. The resistance of the VO₂ membranes is reversibly tuned by human’s tiny mechanical stimuli and breath stimuli. The stimuli modulate the Peierls dimerization of one-dimensional V−V chains in the VO₂ lattice which concomitantly controls the electron correlation and hence resistivity. Since our breathable sensors operate based on quantum-mechanical correlation effects, their sensitivity is 1−2 orders of magnitude higher than conventional tactile and respiratory sensors based on other materials. Thus, the freestanding membranes of correlated oxides on epidermal nanomeshes are multifunctional platforms for developing ultra-sensitive correlated breathable sensors.