An electronic sensor “skin” developed by MIT engineers—the thinnest pyroelectric material ever fabricated—could revolutionize electronics by enabling ultra-thin, flexible sensors for next-generation night vision devices and autonomous vehicles.
Pyroelectric materials generate an electrical current in response to thermal fluctuations. This 10-nanometer-thick film’s extreme thinness actually enhances its sensitivity to minute temperature changes.
A Next-Generation Infrared Sensor
Laboratory testing revealed that the material is highly sensitive to far-infrared heat and radiation. The film could help solve longstanding optical sensing challenges, such as creating lightweight night-vision eyewear and improving autonomous vehicle navigation under difficult conditions. Unlike current state-of-the-art infrared sensors, which require bulky cooling systems, the pyroelectric film offers greater precision without the need for cooling.
“This film considerably reduces weight and cost, making it lightweight, portable, and easier to integrate,” said Xinyuan Zhang, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering. “For example, it could be directly worn on glasses.”
Beyond local biological and environmental sensing, MIT researchers envision astronomical applications for their film. In addition to developing the material, the team also created a new technique for peeling the film from its growth substrate—a process they believe could be adapted for producing other types of semiconductor films.
Fabricating the Electronic Skin
Jeehwan Kim, associate professor of mechanical engineering and materials science and engineering at MIT, leads the research group focused on creating ever-thinner flexible electronics. Working alongside a team led by Professor Chang-Beom Eom at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, they aim to incorporate computing skins seamlessly into contact lenses and wearable fabrics, placing sensors and smart technologies at extremely close range. Larger applications, like bendable displays and stretchable solar cells, are also on the horizon.
Kim’s team developed a novel method called “remote epitaxy.” In this process, a single layer of crystalline substrate acts as the scaffold for growing new material, while an ultra-thin graphene coating—acting like Teflon on a frying pan—prevents the new material from sticking too tightly. This allows the researchers to easily peel the film away, preserving the substrate for reuse.
A Surprising Peel
In their experiments, the MIT team tested various semiconductor blends before noticing that the pyroelectric material PMN-PT unexpectedly peeled away from the substrate easily, even without the graphene layer.
“It worked surprisingly well,” Zhang says. “We found the peeled film is atomically smooth.”
Investigating why the delicate film held together during removal, the researchers identified lead atoms as the key factor. In PMN-PT’s chemical structure, lead atoms’ orderly arrangement attracts their own electrons, rather than allowing them to bond strongly with the substrate—a property known as low electron affinity.
A New Sensor
Capitalizing on this discovery, the researchers produced 10-nanometer-thick PMN-PT films. They then applied the films to small chips, creating a 100-pixel heat sensor.
Testing revealed the films’ exceptional sensitivity to temperature changes, comparable to the best night-vision systems. Conventional night vision devices rely on photodetectors that must be cooled to prevent signal noise from distorting images. In contrast, PMN-PT sensors achieve high sensitivity without cooling, maintaining image quality while dramatically reducing device bulk and weight.
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Further testing showed the film could detect wavelengths across the entire infrared spectrum, expanding its potential applications beyond night vision. The team identified other promising uses, such as helping autonomous vehicles detect pedestrians and obstacles in dark, foggy, or rainy conditions. Additional possibilities include gas sensors for environmental monitoring and thermal diagnostics to detect malfunctioning semiconductor chips through sudden heat changes.
Future Films
Looking ahead, the team plans to adapt their peeling technique to materials that do not contain lead. They are exploring ways to modify the process by applying lead only to the growing surface.
“We envision that our ultrathin films could be made into high-performance night-vision goggles, considering its broad-spectrum infrared sensitivity at room-temperature, which allows for a lightweight design without a cooling system,” Zhang says. “To turn this into a night-vision system, a functional device array should be integrated with readout circuitry. Furthermore, testing in varied environmental conditions is essential for practical applications.”
The paper “Atomic Lift-off of Epitaxial Membranes for Cooling-free Infrared Detection” appeared on April 23, 2025 in Nature.
Ryan Whalen covers science and technology for The Debrief. He holds an MA in History and a Master of Library and Information Science with a certificate in Data Science. He can be contacted atryan@thedebrief.org, and follow him on Twitter @mdntwvlf.
