'Drawn-on-skin' electronics offer breakthrough in wearable monitors
New electronics platform provides better data for personalized care
Date:
July 30, 2020
Source:
University of Houston
Summary:
Researchers have reported a new form of electronics known as
'drawn-on- skin electronics,' allowing multifunctional sensors
and circuits to be drawn on the skin with an ink pen.
FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A team of researchers led by Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Associate Professor
of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston, has developed a
new form of electronics known as "drawn-on-skin electronics," allowing multifunctional sensors and circuits to be drawn on the skin with an
ink pen.
==========================================================================
The advance, the researchers report in Nature Communications, allows
for the collection of more precise, motion artifact-free health data,
solving the long- standing problem of collecting precise biological data through a wearable device when the subject is in motion.
The imprecision may not be important when your FitBit registers 4,000
steps instead of 4,200, but sensors designed to check heart function, temperature and other physical signals must be accurate if they are to
be used for diagnostics and treatment.
The drawn-on-skin electronics are able to seamlessly collect data,
regardless of the wearer's movements.
They also offer other advantages, including simple fabrication techniques
that don't require dedicated equipment.
"It is applied like you would use a pen to write on a piece of paper,"
said Yu.
"We prepare several electronic materials and then use pens to dispense
them.
Coming out, it is liquid. But like ink on paper, it dries very quickly." Wearable bioelectronics -- in the form of soft, flexible patches attached
to the skin -- have become an important way to monitor, prevent and
treat illness and injury by tracking physiological information from
the wearer. But even the most flexible wearables are limited by motion artifacts, or the difficulty that arises in collecting data when the
sensor doesn't move precisely with the skin.
The drawn-on-skin electronics can be customized to collect different
types of information, and Yu said it is expected to be especially useful
in situations where it's not possible to access sophisticated equipment, including on a battleground.
The electronics are able to track muscle signals, heart rate, temperature
and skin hydration, among other physical data, he said. The researchers
also reported that the drawn-on-skin electronics have demonstrated the
ability to accelerate healing of wounds.
In addition to Yu, researchers involved in the project include Faheem
Ershad, Anish Thukral, Phillip Comeaux, Yuntao Lu, Hyunseok Shim,
Kyoseung Sim, Nam-In Kim, Zhoulyu Rao, Ross Guevara, Luis Contreras,
Fengjiao Pan, Yongcao Zhang, Ying-Shi Guan, Pinyi Yang, Xu Wang and Peng
Wang, all from the University of Houston, and Jiping Yue and Xiaoyang
Wu from the University of Chicago.
The drawn-on-skin electronics are actually comprised of three inks,
serving as a conductor, semiconductor and dielectric.
"Electronic inks, including conductors, semiconductors, and dielectrics,
are drawn on-demand in a freeform manner to develop devices, such as transistors, strain sensors, temperature sensors, heaters, skin hydration sensors, and electrophysiological sensors," the researchers wrote.
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Houston. Original
written by Jeannie Kever.
Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Faheem Ershad, Anish Thukral, Jiping Yue, Phillip Comeaux,
Yuntao Lu,
Hyunseok Shim, Kyoseung Sim, Nam-In Kim, Zhoulyu Rao, Ross Guevara,
Luis Contreras, Fengjiao Pan, Yongcao Zhang, Ying-Shi Guan, Pinyi
Yang, Xu Wang, Peng Wang, Xiaoyang Wu, Cunjiang Yu. Ultra-conformal
drawn-on-skin electronics for multifunctional motion artifact-free
sensing and point- of-care treatment. Nature Communications, 2020;
11 (1) DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-020-17619-1 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200730123650.htm
--- up 2 weeks, 1 day, 1 hour, 55 minutes
* Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1337:3/111)