UC Irvine

Wearable electronics provide valuable insights into physiological health, sports performance, and disease management. They continually evolve to become more epidermal-like, yet still face challenges pertaining to conformity, sensitivity, profile, and reliance on wires and power sources. These factors impact their wearability and compatibility for ambulatory monitoring. For more versatile and robust physiological monitoring, there is a need to improve the current electronic features towards more ubiquitous modalities. The work presented here focuses on multi-faceted improvements of conformal wearable electronics, including a method for producing highly sensitive and stretchable strain sensors. The improved sensors can withstand significant mechanical strain over joints while providing high-resolution measurements of joint flexion. A system of physiological monitors is tested in IRB-approved pilot studies in efforts to discover pertinent digital biomarkers vital to the early detection and management of cardiovascular diseases. A skin-safe conductive ink made from commodity school glue addresses the need for on-demand and highly conformal epidermal dry electronics. Finally, temporary tattoo electronics made from the conductive ink are demonstrated for wireless and battery-free operation via NFC linkage.