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Abstract Increasing demand for wearable healthcare synergistically advances the field of electronic textiles, or e‐textiles, allowing for ambulatory monitoring of vital health signals. Despite great promise, the pragmatic deployment of e‐textiles in clinical practice remains challenged due to the lack of a method in producing custom‐designed e‐textiles at high spatial resolution across a large area. To this end, a programmable dual‐regime spray that enables the direct custom writing of functional nanoparticles into arbitrary fabrics at sub‐millimeter resolution over meter scale is employed. The resulting e‐textiles retain the intrinsic fabric properties in terms of mechanical flexibility, water‐vapor permeability, and comfort against multiple uses and laundry cycles. The e‐textiles tightly fit various body sizes and shapes to support the high‐fidelity recording of physiological and electrophysiological signals on the skin under ambulatory conditions. Pilot field tests in a remote health‐monitoring setting with a large animal, such as a horse, demonstrate the scalability and utility of the e‐textiles beyond conventional devices. This approach will be suitable for the rapid prototyping of custom e‐textiles tailored to meet various clinical needs.
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Rapid custom prototyping of soft poroelastic biosensor for simultaneous epicardial recording and imaging
Abstract The growing need for the implementation of stretchable biosensors in the body has driven rapid prototyping schemes through the direct ink writing of multidimensional functional architectures. Recent approaches employ biocompatible inks that are dispensable through an automated nozzle injection system. However, their application in medical practices remains challenged in reliable recording due to their viscoelastic nature that yields mechanical and electrical hysteresis under periodic large strains. Herein, we report sponge-like poroelastic silicone composites adaptable for high-precision direct writing of custom-designed stretchable biosensors, which are soft and insensitive to strains. Their unique structural properties yield a robust coupling to living tissues, enabling high-fidelity recording of spatiotemporal electrophysiological activity and real-time ultrasound imaging for visual feedback. In vivo evaluations of custom-fit biosensors in a murine acute myocardial infarction model demonstrate a potential clinical utility in the simultaneous intraoperative recording and imaging on the epicardium, which may guide definitive surgical treatments.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1944480
- PAR ID:
- 10250468
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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