Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance
Noninvasive and seamless interfacing between the sensors and human skin is highly desired for wearable healthcare. Thin-film-based soft and stretchable sensors can to some extent form conformal contact with skin even under dynamic movements for high-fidelity signals acquisition. However, sweat accum...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157910 |
| _version_ | 1826130136785747968 |
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| author | Li, Qingsong Chen, Geng Cui, Yajing Ji, Shaobo Liu, Zhiyuan Wan, Changjin Liu, Yuping Lu, Yehu Wang, Changxian Zhang, Nan Cheng, Yuan Zhang, Ke-Qin Chen, Xiaodong |
| author2 | School of Materials Science and Engineering |
| author_facet | School of Materials Science and Engineering Li, Qingsong Chen, Geng Cui, Yajing Ji, Shaobo Liu, Zhiyuan Wan, Changjin Liu, Yuping Lu, Yehu Wang, Changxian Zhang, Nan Cheng, Yuan Zhang, Ke-Qin Chen, Xiaodong |
| author_sort | Li, Qingsong |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Noninvasive and seamless interfacing between the sensors and human skin is highly desired for wearable healthcare. Thin-film-based soft and stretchable sensors can to some extent form conformal contact with skin even under dynamic movements for high-fidelity signals acquisition. However, sweat accumulation underneath these sensors for long-term monitoring would compromise the thermal-wet comfort, electrode adherence to the skin, and signal fidelity. Here, we report the fabrication of a highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrode, which can be used for on-skin electrophysiological measurement under sweaty conditions. It is realized through incorporating conducting polymers poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) into glycerol-plasticized silk fiber mats. Glycerol plays the role of tuning the mechanical properties of silk fiber mats and enhancing the conductivity of PEDOT:PSS. Our silk-based electrodes show high stretchability (>250%), low thermal insulation (∼0.13 °C·m2·W-1), low evaporative resistance (∼23 Pa·m2·W-1, 10 times lower than ∼1.3 mm thick commercial gel electrodes), and high water-vapor transmission rate (∼117 g·m-2·h-1 under sweaty conditions, 2 times higher than skin water loss). These features enable a better electrocardiography signal quality than that of commercial gel electrodes without disturbing the heat dissipation during sweat evaporation and provide possibilities for textile integration to monitor the muscle activities under large deformation. Our glycerol-plasticized silk-based electrodes possessing superior physiological comfortability may further engage progress in on-skin electronics with sweat tolerance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:51:35Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/157910 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T07:51:35Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1579102023-07-14T16:05:16Z Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance Li, Qingsong Chen, Geng Cui, Yajing Ji, Shaobo Liu, Zhiyuan Wan, Changjin Liu, Yuping Lu, Yehu Wang, Changxian Zhang, Nan Cheng, Yuan Zhang, Ke-Qin Chen, Xiaodong School of Materials Science and Engineering Innovative Centre for Flexible Devices Max Planck-NTU Joint Lab for Artificial Senses Engineering::Materials Silk Fibroin Electrospinning Fiber Mats Noninvasive and seamless interfacing between the sensors and human skin is highly desired for wearable healthcare. Thin-film-based soft and stretchable sensors can to some extent form conformal contact with skin even under dynamic movements for high-fidelity signals acquisition. However, sweat accumulation underneath these sensors for long-term monitoring would compromise the thermal-wet comfort, electrode adherence to the skin, and signal fidelity. Here, we report the fabrication of a highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrode, which can be used for on-skin electrophysiological measurement under sweaty conditions. It is realized through incorporating conducting polymers poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene): polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) into glycerol-plasticized silk fiber mats. Glycerol plays the role of tuning the mechanical properties of silk fiber mats and enhancing the conductivity of PEDOT:PSS. Our silk-based electrodes show high stretchability (>250%), low thermal insulation (∼0.13 °C·m2·W-1), low evaporative resistance (∼23 Pa·m2·W-1, 10 times lower than ∼1.3 mm thick commercial gel electrodes), and high water-vapor transmission rate (∼117 g·m-2·h-1 under sweaty conditions, 2 times higher than skin water loss). These features enable a better electrocardiography signal quality than that of commercial gel electrodes without disturbing the heat dissipation during sweat evaporation and provide possibilities for textile integration to monitor the muscle activities under large deformation. Our glycerol-plasticized silk-based electrodes possessing superior physiological comfortability may further engage progress in on-skin electronics with sweat tolerance. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) National Research Foundation (NRF) Submitted/Accepted version X.C. would like to thank the financial support from the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s office, Singapore, under its NRF Investigatorship (NRF-NRFI2017- 07) and Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) under its AME Programmable Funding Scheme (project no. A18A1b0045). K.-Q.Z. acknowledges the financial support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0204600), the Natural Science Foundation of China (51873134), the Natural Science Foundation for Key Program of the Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions of China (17KJA540002). Y.C. and N.Z. are grateful for the support from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) and the use of A*STAR Computational Resource Centre, Singapore (ACRC) and National Supercomputing Centre, Singapore (NSCC). Q.L. acknowledges the financial support from the China Scholarship Council (No. 201706920057). 2022-05-16T06:32:12Z 2022-05-16T06:32:12Z 2021 Journal Article Li, Q., Chen, G., Cui, Y., Ji, S., Liu, Z., Wan, C., Liu, Y., Lu, Y., Wang, C., Zhang, N., Cheng, Y., Zhang, K. & Chen, X. (2021). Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance. ACS Nano, 15(6), 9955-9966. https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c01431 1936-086X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157910 10.1021/acsnano.1c01431 6 15 9955 9966 en NRF-NRFI2017- 07 A18A1b0045 ACS Nano This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in ACS Nano, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c01431. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Engineering::Materials Silk Fibroin Electrospinning Fiber Mats Li, Qingsong Chen, Geng Cui, Yajing Ji, Shaobo Liu, Zhiyuan Wan, Changjin Liu, Yuping Lu, Yehu Wang, Changxian Zhang, Nan Cheng, Yuan Zhang, Ke-Qin Chen, Xiaodong Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance |
| title | Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance |
| title_full | Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance |
| title_fullStr | Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance |
| title_full_unstemmed | Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance |
| title_short | Highly thermal-wet comfortable and conformal silk-based electrodes for on-skin sensors with sweat tolerance |
| title_sort | highly thermal wet comfortable and conformal silk based electrodes for on skin sensors with sweat tolerance |
| topic | Engineering::Materials Silk Fibroin Electrospinning Fiber Mats |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157910 |
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