An official website of the United States government
Abstract Recent advancements in wearable sensor technologies have enabled real-time monitoring of physiological and biochemical signals, opening new opportunities for personalized healthcare applications. However, conventional wearable devices often depend on rigid electronics components for signal transduction, processing, and wireless communications, leading to compromised signal quality due to the mechanical mismatches with the soft, flexible nature of human skin. Additionally, current computing technologies face substantial challenges in efficiently processing these vast datasets, with limitations in scalability, high power consumption, and a heavy reliance on external internet resources, which also poses security risks. To address these challenges, we have developed a miniaturized, standalone, chip-less wearable neuromorphic system capable of simultaneously monitoring, processing, and analyzing multimodal physicochemical biomarker data (i.e., metabolites, cardiac activities, and core body temperature). By leveraging scalable printing technology, we fabricated artificial synapses that function as both sensors and analog processing units, integrating them alongside printed synaptic nodes into a compact wearable system embedded with a medical diagnostic algorithm for multimodal data processing and decision making. The feasibility of this flexible wearable neuromorphic system was demonstrated in sepsis diagnosis and patient data classification, highlighting the potential of this wearable technology for real-time medical diagnostics.
more »
« less
This content will become publicly available on June 26, 2026
Highly‐Soft, Scalable, Personalizable Skin‐Interfaced Systems via Self‐Healing Gels
Abstract Precision healthcare relies upon ubiquitous biofeedback to optimize therapy individually for nuanced and dynamic needs. However, grand challenges reside in the lack of soft, highly personalizable monitors that are scalable in manufacturing and reversibly interchangeable upon the evolution of needs. Herein, a customizable soft wearable platform is presented that can seamlessly integrate diverse functional modules, including physical and biochemical sensors, stimulators, and energy storage devices, tailored to various health monitoring scenarios, while can self‐repair after certain mechanical damage. The platform supports versatile physiological sensing and therapeutic intervention due to its compatibility with wide‐ranging functional nanomaterials. A bilayer microporous foam embedded in the gel improves sweat management for comfortable and reliable on‐body biomarker monitoring. Furthermore, flexible self‐healing zinc‐air batteries using ion gel electrolytes provide opportunities for self‐powered, closed‐loop systems. On‐body demonstrations validate the platform's capability to monitor physiological and metabolic states under real‐world conditions. This work provides a scalable and adaptable materials‐based solution for real‐time personalized health monitoring, advancing wearable bioelectronics to meet evolving healthcare demands.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 2139659
- PAR ID:
- 10640259
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Functional Materials
- Volume:
- 35
- Issue:
- 50
- ISSN:
- 1616-301X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Wearable robotics, also called exoskeletons, have been engineered for human-centered assistance for decades. They provide assistive technologies for maintaining and improving patients’ natural capabilities towards self-independence and also enable new therapy solutions for rehabilitation towards pervasive health. Upper limb exoskeletons can significantly enhance human manipulation with environments, which is crucial to patients’ independence, self-esteem, and quality of life. For long-term use in both in-hospital and at-home settings, there are still needs for new technologies with high comfort, biocompatibility, and operability. The recent progress in soft robotics has initiated soft exoskeletons (also called exosuits), which are based on controllable and compliant materials and structures. Remarkable literature reviews have been performed for rigid exoskeletons ranging from robot design to different practical applications. Due to the emerging state, few have been focused on soft upper limb exoskeletons. This paper aims to provide a systematic review of the recent progress in wearable upper limb robotics including both rigid and soft exoskeletons with a focus on their designs and applications in various pervasive healthcare settings. The technical needs for wearable robots are carefully reviewed and the assistance and rehabilitation that can be enhanced by wearable robotics are particularly discussed. The knowledge from rigid wearable robots may provide practical experience and inspire new ideas for soft exoskeleton designs. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities of wearable assistive robotics for pervasive health.more » « less
-
Abstract Recent developments of micro‐sensors and flexible electronics allow for the manufacturing of health monitoring devices, including electrocardiogram (ECG) detection systems for inpatient monitoring and ambulatory health diagnosis, by mounting the device on the chest. Although some commercial devices in reported articles show examples of a portable recording of ECG, they lose valuable data due to significant motion artifacts. Here, a new class of strain‐isolating materials, hybrid interfacial physics, and soft material packaging for a strain‐isolated, wearable soft bioelectronic system (SIS) is reported. The fundamental mechanism of sensor‐embedded strain isolation is defined through a combination of analytical and computational studies and validated by dynamic experiments. Comprehensive research of hard‐soft material integration and isolation mechanics provides critical design features to minimize motion artifacts that can occur during both mild and excessive daily activities. A wireless, fully integrated SIS that incorporates a breathable, perforated membrane can measure real‐time, continuous physiological data, including high‐quality ECG, heart rate, respiratory rate, and activities. In vivo demonstration with multiple subjects and simultaneous comparison with commercial devices captures the SIS's outstanding performance, offering real‐world, continuous monitoring of the critical physiological signals with no data loss over eight consecutive hours in daily life, even with exaggerated body movements.more » « less
-
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.more » « less
-
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 signalsin situin 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 scenariosin 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.more » « less
