Irreproducible SEBS wrinkling based on spin evaporation enabling identifiable artificial finger pad electronics

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 16; no. 1; pp. 2225 - 14
• Main Authors: Lee, Juyeong, Park, Haechan, Kim, Sehyun, Liu, Chang, Li, Zhengwei, Sim, Kyoseung
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.03.2025; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/1005/1007; 639/301/923/1028; Cephalopods; Counterfeiting; Electronic systems; Electronics; Evaporation; External stimuli; Finger; Fingers; Humanities and Social Sciences; Identification; multidisciplinary; Object recognition; Pattern recognition; Prostheses; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Solvents; Styrene; Styrenes; Wavelengths; Wrinkling
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57498-y

Irreproducible wrinkling, characterized by randomly arranged ridges or creases on material surfaces, has significant potential for application in entity identification and anti-counterfeiting. However, active research in this field is hindered because the existing wrinkling methods face challenges in realizing discernible patterns and potential applications of submillimeter-scale wavelength wrinkles are yet to be identified. Herein, we propose a strategy to create unique and irreproducible styrene–ethylene–butylene–styrene (SEBS) wrinkles using “spin evaporation”, a technique that rapidly removes the solvent by spinning. We demonstrate the realization of SEBS wrinkles with wavelengths of hundreds of micrometers with high randomness, irreproducibility, and resistance to external stimuli. Importantly, to demonstrate the potential application of the wrinkle, we suggest and fabricate a human-finger-like fully soft identifiable artificial finger pad electronics and integrate it with a soft bimodal sensing system. The artificial finger pad mimics human finger pad features such as identification, object recognition, and effective grasping. Further integration of this pad into soft robots, cephalopods, and prosthetic skin offers insightful potential for the proposed wrinkling method in various fields. The authors introduce irreproducible soft wrinkles for artificial finger pad electronics, mimicking human finger functions. These structures enable secure authentication, object recognition, improved gripping, and integration into electronic systems.