Using Advanced 2D Materials to Closely Mimic Vestibular Hair Cell Sensors

Abstract

In this work, an ultra-sensitive flow sensor is presented, consisting of vertically grown graphene nanosheets (VGNs) with a mazelike structure and an elastomer (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS). The VGNs/PDMS piezoresistive flow sensor exhibits great linearity, low-velocity detection threshold (1.127 mm/s) and super-high sensitivity under exposure to stationary flow (0.127 kΩ/(mL/min)). The proposed flow sensor, analogous to hair cells in the vestibular system, was embedded in a 3D-printed lateral semicircular canal, and the sensing performance was studied in response to various physiological movements. This work paves the way for development of physical sensors using novel two-dimensional (2D) materials for various biomedical applications.