P(VDF-TRFE)/BTO Nanofiber Based Artifacial Lateral Line Sensor for Flow Detection

Lateral line of fish is an extraordinary mechanosensory organ, which plays a vital role in navigation, object detections, and energy-efficient swimming. The paper presents an artificial lateral line sensor (ALLS) for flow detection by using piezoelectric nanofiber based sensing cantilevers and implemented electronics. Interdigital electrodes were adopted to enable the P(VDF-TrFE)/BTO nanofiber membrane to operate in the thickness (d33) mode. SU-8 pillars, mimicking the cupula of fish lateral line, were fabricated by photolithography. Pre-amplifiers were implemented in the ALLS to reduce the complexity of external testing equipment. The ALLS achieved a velocity detection limit of 1.56 mm/s, which was greatly reduced compared to that of ALLS without preamplifiers.