Flexible self-powered sensors have promising applications in wearable electronics, owing to their flexibility, high sensitivity, and facile fabrication. However, achieving reliable operation in harsh environments with extreme temperature variations remains a formidable challenge. Herein, we present a flexible self-powered sensor array capable of tactile and proximity sensing, basically constructed with fluoroethylene propylene (FEP)-polyimide aerogel (PIA)-FEP composite electret. This electret sensor array demonstrates exceptional robustness across a wide temperature range from -196 to 150°C, attributed to the synergistic effects of the two-phase interface and microcrystalline charge traps within the composite electret. We further showcase its potential applications with a 5-unit array for vehicle movement control (contact mode) and a 9-unit array for machine learning-assisted handwritten letter recognition (non-contact mode). This work advances the development of self-powered sensors working in extreme environments, significantly expanding the prospects of human-machine interactive systems. This study introduces a self-powered sensor array based on FEP–PIA–FEP composite electrets, enabling both tactile and proximity sensing. It exhibits high stability across a broad temperature range (-196 °C to 150 °C). Applications include a 5-unit array for vehicle control and a 9-unit array for ML-based handwriting recognition, advancing human–machine interaction in extreme conditions.
Dai et al. (Fri,) studied this question.