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Abstract Flexible and stretchable bioelectronics provides a biocompatible interface between electronics and biological systems and has received tremendous attention for in situ monitoring of various biological systems. Considerable progress in organic electronics has made organic semiconductors, as well as other organic electronic materials, ideal candidates for developing wearable, implantable, and biocompatible electronic circuits due to their potential mechanical compliance and biocompatibility. Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), as an emerging class of organic electronic building blocks, exhibit significant advantages in biological sensing due to the ionic nature at the basis of the switching behavior, low driving voltage (<1 V), and high transconductance (in millisiemens range). During the past few years, significant progress in constructing flexible/stretchable OECTs (FSOECTs) for both biochemical and bioelectrical sensors has been reported. In this regard, to summarize major research accomplishments in this emerging field, this review first discusses structure and critical features of FSOECTs, including working principles, materials, and architectural engineering. Next, a wide spectrum of relevant physiological sensing applications, where FSOECTs are the key components, are summarized. Last, major challenges and opportunities for further advancing FSOECT physiological sensors are discussed.
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Design and Manufacturing of Soft Electronics for in situ Biochemical Sensing
Abstract Soft (flexible and stretchable) biosensors have great potential in real-time and continuous health monitoring of various physiological factors, mainly due to their better conformability to soft human tissues and organs, which maximizes data fidelity and minimizes biological interference. Most of the early soft sensors focused on sensing physical signals. Recently, it is becoming a trend that novel soft sensors are developed to sense and monitor biochemical signals in situ in real biological environments, thus providing much more meaningful data for studying fundamental biology and diagnosing diverse health conditions. This is essential to decentralize the healthcare resources towards predictive medicine and better disease management. To meet the requirements of mechanical softness and complex biosensing, unconventional materials, and manufacturing process are demanded in developing biosensors. In this review, we summarize the fundamental approaches and the latest and representative design and fabrication to engineer soft electronics (flexible and stretchable) for wearable and implantable biochemical sensing. We will review the rational design and ingenious integration of stretchable materials, structures, and signal transducers in different application scenarios to fabricate high-performance soft biosensors. Focus is also given to how these novel biosensors can be integrated into diverse important physiological environments and scenarios in situ, such as sweat analysis, wound monitoring, and neurochemical sensing. We also rethink and discuss the current limitations, challenges, and prospects of soft biosensors. This review holds significant importance for researchers and engineers, as it assists in comprehending the overarching trends and pivotal issues within the realm of designing and manufacturing soft electronics for biochemical sensing.
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- PAR ID:
- 10526818
- Publisher / Repository:
- IOP
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing
- ISSN:
- 2631-8644
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1088/2631-7990/ad65a0
