iWood: An Intelligent Iontronic Device for Human-Wood Interactions

Woodwork is involved in a variety of interactions with humans through physical contact, which may reveal valuable information if the tactile data can be unnoticeably extracted. In this work, an intelligent iontronic wood (iWood) device, along with its seamlessly integrated architecture into the woodwork, enabled by the iontronic sensing principle, is implemented. Notably, the tactile sensing structure is generated at the iontronic interface between ionic and conductive woods. In particular, the ionic wood is established by infusing an ionic liquid into the wood, followed by immobilizing it via chemical bonding, presenting both prominent ionic conductivity and excellent stability under pressure. By formatting the woods into identical strips, the high-density tactile sensing array can be simply formed by a braiding process for a scalable interwoven structure. As a result, the iWood device has offered a high sensitivity over a broad detection of 0.5 MPa and an array of 40 × 90 units covering an area up to 3600 cm 2 . The iWood device is showcased as an interactive human interface, demonstrating its potential as a smart desktop capable of gesture and object recognition, a health-tracking chair for real-time ballistocardiograph monitoring, and an embedded intelligent floor for weight management and gait analysis.