ES-202 Report

Touch Sensitive Prosthetic Limbs

Multi-Arrayed Graphene

16110046 - Chinmay Dashpute

16110166 - Atharva Tandale

Made with LATEX

Contents
1 Introduction 2
1.1 Importance of Sensory touch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 What are Prosthetic Limbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Materials used for Prosthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.4 Types of artificial limbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.5 Current Research in Prosthetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

2 Unique Material : Multi-Arrayed Graphene 5

2.1 Origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2 Properties that make it unique . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.1 Optical Transparency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.2 High Mobility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.2.3 Anomalous quantum Hall effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.4 High Thermal Conductivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.5 Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2.6 Robustness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.7 Self-Healing Composites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

3 Analysis 10
3.1 Mechanism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.2 Properties used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.3 Plots and Observations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Graphene . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.4.1 Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.4.2 Disadvantages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

4 Conclusion 13

5 References 14

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 Abstract
The latest developments in the fields of materials and electronics has been leading us
to making the life of millions of people better. The new methods used for creating various
combinations of materials to provide a desired output and using the electric properties of these
materials has recently led to many advancements in making electronic skin for prosthetics.
According to Census in India, every year, 23,500 people are added to the Amputee Population
of the country. In 1981, there were 4,24,000 amputees in India. The current population of
amputees is quite high considering the extending life expectancy and increasing population.
Estimating by the fact that worldwide 3 people are amputees per 2000 people, there should
be roughly 20 lakhs of people in India who don’t have an arm or a leg. Worldwide, there
are around 10 million amputees who can be helped in regaining touch as a sense in their lost
limbs. The motive of the researchers is not only to create an electronic skin that is as good
as our natural skin, but also have to keep it economically viable. Only then, will it be able
to help the society in the way it is meant to be,

1 Introduction
1.1 Importance of Sensory touch
As the largest organ of the body, the skin provides excellent sensory capabilities towards various
environmental stimuli. It also acts as a layer between the inner body organs and the environment
outside. Touch is an important sense that human body possesses, if not the most important. The
touch sense tells us that fire is harmful for us and this sense is present all over body. The pain
and heat receptors are a vital component for our well-being. Few body parts are more sensitive
than others compared on their functions. For eg. our fingertips are more sensitive compared
to our elbows. It is important to for a child to get ample opportunities for tactile experiences.
Information from our sense of touch enters the nervous system from every single part of the body.
For instance, information such as surface roughness, temperature and size which are critical for
object discrimination and manipulation can only be determined by the sense of touch. This data is
processed through via a sensory pathway for basic facts and figures like temperature and texture,
There is another route that determines the emotional/social meaning behind the touch giving a
socio-emotional context to the touch.

1.2 What are Prosthetic Limbs

The human body is a unique piece of biological machinery. Our body parts are no exception to
that. Our limbs provide exceptional functionality, being dexterous, strong and durable. Due to
various reasons, people might lose an arm or a leg completely or a part of it. Few of the possible
reasons are :
• Circulation problems from atherosclerosis or diabetes. They may cause you to need an
amputation.
• Traumatic injuries, including from traffic accidents and military combat
• Cancer
• Defects during birth

The term prosthesis is used in medicine to refer to an artificial replacement of a missing body
part.The field of prosthetics is not a new one. Prosthetic limbs have been seen for few centuries at
the least. But with better technology at hands, we are looking forward towards drastic innovations
in this field of studies. Prosthetic limbs are incredibly valuable to amputees because a prosthesis
can help restore some of the capabilities lost with the amputated limb.

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1.3 Materials used for Prosthetics
In the past, prosthetics became heavy with addition of features. With development of lighter ma-
terials and newer technologies, Prosthetics have been modernized. Prosthetic are made lightweight
for better convenience for the amputee.

• Light weight metals

– Titanium
– Aluminium
• Composites

– Carbon Fibre
• Plastics
– Acrylics
– Polyurethane
– Polypropylene
– Polyethylene
• Wood (early prosthetics)
• Rubber (early prosthetics)

• Elastomers

1.4 Types of artificial limbs

There are four main types of artificial limbs. These include the transtibial, transfemoral, transra-
dial, and transhumeral prostheses:
1. Transradial Prosthesis : A transradial prosthesis is an artificial limb that replaces an arm
missing below the elbow. Two main types of prosthetics are available. Cable operated limbs
work by attaching a harness and cable around the opposite shoulder of the damaged arm.
The other form of prosthetics available are myoelectric arms. These work by sensing, via
electrodes, when the muscles in the upper arm moves, causing an artificial hand to open or
close
2. Transhumeral Prosthesis : A transhumeral prosthesis is an artificial limb that replaces an
arm missing above the elbow. Transhumeral amputees experience some of the same problems
as transfemoral amputees, due to the similar complexities associated with the movement of
the elbow. This makes mimicking the correct motion with an artificial limb very difficult
3. Transtibial Prosthesis : A transtibial prosthesis is an artificial limb that replaces a leg
missing below the knee. Transtibial amputees are usually able to regain normal movement
more readily than 4 someone with a transfemoral amputation, due in large part to retaining
the knee, which allows for easier movement

4. Transfemoral Prosthesis : A transfemoral prosthesis is an artificial limb that replaces a leg

missing above the knee. Transfemoral amputees can have a very difficult time regaining
normal movement. In general, a transfemoral amputee must use approximately 80% more
energy to walk than a person with two whole legs. This is due to the complexities in
movement associated with the knee. In newer and more improved designs, after employing
hydraulics, carbon fibre

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1.5 Current Research in Prosthetics
Research has been going on about the way to make prosthetic limbs to be more like the actual
lombs. This includes Myoelectric Prosthetics, externally powered prosthetics which picks up the
electrical action potential in the residual muscles in the amputated limb. Upon receiving the
action potentials, the prosthetic amplifies the signal using a rechargeable battery and uses the
electric signals to power the motors operating the respective part of the arm. This allows for
more freedom and doesn’t require a patient to perform frequent, strenuous muscle contractions.
However, they are heavier and more expensive than the other two categories. But they are some
of the most advanced and effective prosthesis available for upper limbs.

Figure 1: A much more sophisticated prosthetic arm and hand. This ultra-sophisticated i-limbTM ,
made by Touch Bionics, has five working fingers that give good enough grip to pick up marbles.
Photo by Charmain Z. Brackett courtesy of US Army

The next step of making prosthetics more life like is introducing the sense of touch in it. Touch is
also vital for our health from a different perspective. Among various human senses, sense of touch,
plays a crucial role in the way in which we perceive our environment. As humans we need touch.
It is said that babies who do not receive enough touch may not live, or may develop psychological
problems. In addition, tactile sensors can also provide information on surface compliance, hardness
of object and electrical conductivities. Other possible functionality which could be embraced by
e-skin are chemical, temperature and biological sensors. Furthermore, development of self-healing
materials are currently under investigation

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2 Unique Material : Multi-Arrayed Graphene
2.1 Origin
In 1962, Graphene was observed on the metal surfaces. In 2004, Andre Geim and Konstantin
Novoselov at the University of Manchester rediscovered, isolated and characterized the material.

2.2 Properties that make it unique

Properties vary a lot when we go to Graphene to single and multi-layered Graphene. There exist
different stacking orders for most 2 D Materials, such as AB and ABC stacking of Graphene-based
materials, and even the twisted stacking with any twist angle between two adjacent layers,(shown
in the figure below) giving rise to a wealth of electronic and optical properties.

Figure 2: Various types of stacking in Graphene

In particular, some intriguing properties of Multi-Layer Graphene (SLG) are explained in the
following:

2.2.1 Optical Transparency

Optical Transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through the material
without being scattered. Generally, when light strikes the surface of a solid material, it bounces
off in all directions due to multiple reflections by the microscopic irregularities, inside the material
(e.g., the grain boundaries of a poly-crystalline material) and by its surface.

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Figure 3: Graph showing optical transmittance and reflectance for a film with multilayered
Graphene with carrier density = 101 0/cm2 in one layer

2.2.2 High Mobility

At room temperature electron mobility of Graphene is reported to be around 15000 cm2.V-1.s-1
with identical electron-hole mobilities. The mobility is nearly independent of temperature between
10 K and 100 K, which implies that the dominant scattering mechanism is defect scattering. Scat-
tering by Graphene’s acoustic phonons (coherent movement of atoms/electrons about equilibrium
position) intrinsically limits room temperature mobility to 200000 cm2V1s1 at a carrier density
of 1012 cm2, 107 times greater than copper. Further, the low-energy electronic properties of
Multi-Layered Graphene and correspondingly, the transport and infrared (IR) optical properties
are largely defined by the interactions between the Graphene layers.

Figure 4: Mobility of Graphene, intrinsic, on HfO2, SiO2 and h-BN

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2.2.3 Anomalous quantum Hall effect
One of the most remarkable properties of Graphene is the anomalous quantum Hall effect. It is
extremely sensitive to the structure of the system; in particular, it clearly distinguishes single- and
double-layer samples. In this, the Hall conductance undergoes quantum Hall transitions to take
on the quantized values, without the presence of a magnetic field. It is believed that this effect
has unique potential for applications in future electronic devices with low-power consumption.

2.2.4 High Thermal Conductivity

The extremely high value of the thermal conductivity suggests that Graphene can outperform
carbon nanotubes in heat conduction.

Figure 5: Schematic of a heat sink experiment, where Graphene’s high thermal conductivity is
used

2.2.5 Flexibility
Graphene is one of the few materials in the world that is transparent, conductive and flexible —
all at the same time. It is flexible like a sheet of paper, in that it can be shaped and curved. It
has strong bonds in a hexagonal pattern with other carbon atoms, so it retains so cool properties
with high electron flow until it becomes several layers thick (back to graphite).

Figure 6:

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2.2.6 Robustness
It has an intrinsic tensile strength of 130.5 GPa and Young’s modulus of 1TPa This makes
Graphene the strongest material ever tested. Graphene is known to be as robust as diamonds.

Figure 7:

2.2.7 Self-Healing Composites

Self-healing polymer in microporous reduced Graphene oxide (rGO) networks prepared through
the freeze casting of Graphene oxide (GO) slurries followed by thermal reduction. Their diameter
is of the order of 10-20 m are they are separated by thin (below 50 nm) carbon walls formed by
an accumulation of entangled rGO flakes bonded together by physical forces. The final densities
of the networks range between 2 to 11 mg cm3 , depending on the concentration of the starting
GO suspensions.

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 Figure 8:

Besides, vibrational properties of Multi-Layered Graphene, including the influence of interlayer

coupling on the lattice vibrations, are also of fundamental interest, from which many physical
properties (such as thermal conductivity, heat capacity, and shear modulus) can be derived. Lat-
tice vibrations, whose quanta are phonons, play an important role in the intriguing properties and
experimental phenomena such as thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity in 2D Materials.
The quantum confinement in atomic scale and the presence of interlayer coupling in multilayer 2D
Materials result in that their lattice vibrations and phonon spectra are significantly dependent

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3 Analysis
3.1 Mechanism
• Due to very flexible nature and property of very low thickness/ 2D material configuration,
the prosthetic limbs with pre-installed actuators and controllers are covered with a very thin
layer of artificial skin with a large number of Graphene based pressure sensors attached to
it as shown in the figure.

Figure 9:

• The sensors are so sensitive that they can produce considerable amount of resistivity change
to sense a air breeze. Also the high amount of toughness and elasticity modulus makes them
resistant to sudden impact or blow.
• These sensors are connected with each other electrically in such a way that location of
particular sensor can be directly mapped with the change in its resistivity (piezoresistivity).
Also the variance of resistivity is directly proportional to the pressure applied.
• Thus knowing the sensor location and magnitude of resistivity change a micro controller
which is programmed to produce neural electrical impulses into set of receptor neuron and
of the magnitude which is analogous in real human response sets up electrical impulses into
particular set of neurons which then brain interprets as touch and responds accordingly.

3.2 Properties used

• Graphene has piezoresistivity property i.e. applied normal stress changes the resistivity of
Graphene which is in proportion with the strain produced. Figure (1) shows output voltage
vs time for 0.6 bar pressure with time period of 30 sec. Approximately 5mV transition which
is equivalent to 0.4% of resistance change transits after a delay of 0.9 sec delay from low to
high whereas from high to low delay of 5.6 s of delay can be seen. This high delay is due to
slow venting of gas line. Output voltage varies almost linearly with pressure as can be seen
from figure (2). This illustrates the feasibility and sensitivity of accurate Graphene based
pressure sensor compared with metal based strain gauge.
• Graphene’s unique physical properties include elastic modulus as high as 1 TPa, thermal
conductivity of almost 13 times higher than copper, and good optical transparency with
97.7% transmittance.
• Graphene can also be easily functionalized with bioactive compounds such as proteins, en-
zymes, drugs, growth factors, and DNA via physical interaction.

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 • As a result of the -bond structure and high surface area, the electron mobility of Graphene
is greater than 15,000 cm2/(Vs) at room temperature.
• 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) if present in blood, urine or saliva could cause DNA
damage; in elevated proportions there is high risk of cancer. In 2015 Graphene was used
to create biosensors which binds to 8-hydroxydeoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) and is capable of
selective binding with antibodies. Graphene biosensor is also used as a protein binding
sensor platform.

3.3 Plots and Observations

Figure 10:

Figure 11:

3.4 Advantages and Disadvantages of Graphene

3.4.1 Advantages
1. It is thinnest, strongest and most flexible material known

2. It is 2D form of graphite hence consists of single carbon hence is pliable and transparent.
3. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity.
4. It is used in production of high speed electronic devices responsible for fast response.
5. It shows piezoresistivity with very high sensitivity thus finds many applications in micro-
electronics viz. MEMS.
6. Transistors that operate at higher frequency as compared to others

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 7. Used in the production of lithium-ion batteries that recharge faster. These batteries use
Graphene on the anode surface
8. Storing Hydrogen for fuel cell powered cars

3.4.2 Disadvantages
1. Due to overlap of valence and conduction band i.e. zero band gap, it cannot be switched off

2. It is susceptible to oxidative environments hence is not suitable to be used as catalyst.

3. Graphene features jagged edges that can pierce cell membranes allowing it to enter into the
cell and disrupt normal functions hence is toxic to some extent.

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4 Conclusion
On studying the way in which Graphene and few other materials such as elastomers, nanowires
are being researched upon to develop electronic skin, we can say that soon, we will be able to
provide the sense of touch to those who cannot avail it currently. Along with prosthetics, this
has more applications such as bionic body parts, elastic touch screens in electronics, soft robotics,
medical applications, wearable sensors and many more. But, work is also going on for making these
products economically viable and affordable to a large percent of the population. For this, highly
precise methods of mass manufacturing have to be developed which can produce the components
for these electronic skins in large quantities. The development in these materials will change the
lives of many and begin a revolution in the field of bionics. Not only amputed bodyparts, but
also parts of the body that have been burnt or been wounded and are irreparable can be replaced
by these skins. A scene similar to this has been shown in the science fiction series of ’Star Wars’,
where often on getting wounded, they make use of advanced prosthetics to regain their abilities.

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