New Electronics Platform Provides Better Data for Personalized Care
By
Jeannie Kever
University
of Houston – July 30, 2020 -- 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.
This
research is supported by the Office of Naval Research and National Institutes
of Health.
https://uh.edu/news-events/stories/july-2020/07302020yu-liquid-electronics.php
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