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Unisensory processing of interleaving memristive nanowires enabling multimodal sensing at human-scale resolution

Nature Materials (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Numerous attempts have been made to emulate the skin’s multimodal capabilities using different device architectures, but most suffer from slow response due to reactive components and limited scalability from stacking multiple elements, which restricts their practical use. Here we report a multimodal receptor based on a single memristive nanowire network that captures both thermal and mechanical properties of interacting objects through memristive switching. The device switches between thermal and mechanical sensing at 16 Hz, whereas its intrinsic response times reach submicrosecond (mechanical) and millisecond (thermal) levels due to the nanoscale thickness. To demonstrate practicality, we integrated the receptor with a wireless switching board for daily use, combined it with a machine learning model to identify 20 household objects with 83% accuracy using a single fingertip-mounted sensor, and performed multiarray measurements for spatially distributed sensing. This approach highlights the potential of memristive networks for compact and versatile multimodal sensing in wearable and interactive devices.

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Fig. 1: Artificial multimodal receptor.
Fig. 2: Dynamic switching of sensing mode.
Fig. 3: Characterizations of memristive multimodal receptor.
Fig. 4: Object recognition using interleaved signals.
Fig. 5: Integration with autonomous switching board and human-scale multiarray measurement.

Data availability

The data supporting the findings of this study are available within the Article and its Supplementary Information. Additional data are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Code availability

The code that supports the results within this Article and the other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (RS-2025-11092968) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA2386-24-1-4089).

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Kyun Kyu Kim, Junhyuk Bang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Kyun Kyu Kim

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Kyun Kyu Kim, Junhyuk Bang, Munju Kim, Juho Jeong, Inho Ha & Seung Hwan Ko

  3. Institute of Advanced Machinery and Design (SNU-IAMD)/Institute of Engineering Research, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Seung Hwan Ko

  4. Interdisciplinary Program in Bioengineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

    Seung Hwan Ko

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Contributions

K.K.K., J.B., M.K., I.H. and S.H.K. conceived and designed the study. K.K.K. and J.B. designed and performed the experiments. K.K.K. and J.B. developed the algorithms and analysed the data. J.B., K.K.K. and J.J. carried out the nanowire synthesis. K.K.K., J.B., M.K. and S.H.K. wrote the paper and incorporated comments and edits from all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seung Hwan Ko.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information

Nature Materials thanks Xinyu Liu, Peiyi Wu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–25, Tables 1 and 2 and Note 1.

Supplementary Video 1

Real-time measurement of interleaving signals.

Supplementary Video 2

Real-time measurement of multi-array sensor.

Supplementary Video 3

Conductance switching simulation on memristive network.

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Kim, K.K., Bang, J., Kim, M. et al. Unisensory processing of interleaving memristive nanowires enabling multimodal sensing at human-scale resolution. Nat. Mater. (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02373-w

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