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Ultra-sensitive graphene strain sensor for sound signal acquisition and recognition

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Abstract

A wearable and high-precision sensor for sound signal acquisition and recognition was fabricated from thin films of specially designed graphene woven fabrics (GWFs). Upon being stretched, a high density of random cracks appears in the network, which decreases the current pathways, thereby increasing the resistance. Therefore, the film could act as a strain sensor on the human throat in order to measure one’s speech through muscle movement, regardless of whether or not a sound is produced. The ultra-high sensitivity allows for the realization of rapid and low-frequency speech sampling by extracting the signature characteristics of sound waves. In this study, representative signals of 26 English letters, typical Chinese characters and tones, and even phrases and sentences were tested, revealing obvious and characteristic changes in resistance. Furthermore, resistance changes of the graphene sensor responded perfectly with pre-recorded sounds. By combining artificial intelligence with digital signal processing, we expect that, in the future, this graphene sensor will be able to successfully negotiate complex acoustic systems and large quantities of audio data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Institute for Advanced Study, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330031, China

    Yan Wang, Junchao Lao & Li Wang

  2. Center for Nano and Micro Mechanics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Yan Wang, Tingting Yang, Junchao Lao, Miao Zhu, Xiao Li & Hongwei Zhu

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, Key Laboratory of Materials Processing Technology of MOE, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Tingting Yang, Rujing Zhang, Yangyang Zhang, Miao Zhu, Xiao Li, Xiaobei Zang, Kunlin Wang & Hongwei Zhu

  4. Department of Computer Science and Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Wenjian Yu

  5. 2D Carbon Graphene Material Co., Ltd., Changzhou, 213149, China

    Hu Jin

Authors
  1. Yan Wang
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  2. Tingting Yang
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  3. Junchao Lao
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  4. Rujing Zhang
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  5. Yangyang Zhang
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  7. Xiao Li
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  8. Xiaobei Zang
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  9. Kunlin Wang
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  10. Wenjian Yu
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  11. Hu Jin
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  12. Li Wang
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  13. Hongwei Zhu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hongwei Zhu.

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These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Wang, Y., Yang, T., Lao, J. et al. Ultra-sensitive graphene strain sensor for sound signal acquisition and recognition. Nano Res. 8, 1627–1636 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0652-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0652-3

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