All-printed nanomembrane wireless bioelectronics using a biocompatible solderable graphene for multimodal human-machine interfaces

Abstract

Recent advances in nanomaterials and nano-microfabrication have enabled the development of flexible wearable electronics. However, existing manufacturing methods still rely on a multi-step, error-prone complex process that requires a costly cleanroom facility. Here, we report a new class of additive nanomanufacturing of functional materials that enables a wireless, multilayered, seamlessly interconnected, and flexible hybrid electronic system. All-printed electronics, incorporating machine learning, offers multi-class and versatile human-machine interfaces. One of the key technological advancements is the use of a functionalized conductive graphene with enhanced biocompatibility, anti-oxidation, and solderability, which allows a wireless flexible circuit. The high-aspect ratio graphene offers gel-free, high-fidelity recording of muscle activities. The performance of the printed electronics is demonstrated by using real-time control of external systems via electromyograms. Anatomical study with deep learning-embedded electrophysiology mapping allows for an optimal selection of three channels to capture all finger motions with an accuracy of about 99% for seven classes.

Recent Advances in High-Throughput Nanomaterial Manufacturing for Hybrid Flexible Bioelectronics

“…For instance, a skin-mounted electrophysiology sensor is highly degraded by motion artifacts, and a stretchable circuit can greatly reduce these artifacts [ 4 , 17 ]. Interconnections for these soft, flexible, and stretchable devices have followed a three-stage development process: first came the development of stretchable interconnections based on fractal geometries fabricated with traditional MEMS processes [ 10 , 150 ]. Second, recent works have sought to fully print these systems on non-conventional substrates, such as TPU and PET, that are not compatible with MEMS fabrication [ 150 ].…”

“…Interconnections for these soft, flexible, and stretchable devices have followed a three-stage development process: first came the development of stretchable interconnections based on fractal geometries fabricated with traditional MEMS processes [ 10 , 150 ]. Second, recent works have sought to fully print these systems on non-conventional substrates, such as TPU and PET, that are not compatible with MEMS fabrication [ 150 ]. Finally, these printed methods are being scaled with high throughput methods to make them suitable for commercial scales.…”

“…There is a great diversity of potential bioelectronics applications, and this review will focus on those that have gained attention for high throughput fabrication. However, many other applications, such as implantable cerebrovascular and arterial stents, brain–machine interfaces, and fully printed wearable devices, are of tremendous interest [ 10 , 150 ]. Other systems have been successfully fabricated with high throughput methods, as summarized in Table 4 [ 37 , 129 , 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 , 166 ].…”

Layer-Scale and Chip-Scale Transfer Techniques for Functional Devices and Systems: A Review

“…The development of flexible or wearable devices is another major factor driving the need for developing cost-effective layer transfer and chip transfer techniques [ 124 , 129 , 136 , 137 , 138 , 139 , 140 , 141 , 142 , 143 , 144 ]. Flexible electronics can find a wide range of applications, such as flexible or stretchable displays [ 137 , 145 , 146 , 147 , 148 , 149 , 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 ], flexible transistors [ 154 , 155 , 156 , 157 , 158 , 159 , 160 ], flexible solar cells [ 77 , 92 , 161 ], flexible sensors [ 162 , 163 , 164 , 165 , 166 ], wearable medical devices [ 127 , 167 , 168 , 169 ], and human–machine interfaces [ 170 , 171 , 172 , 173 , 174 ]. While organic semiconductors are naturally suited for fabricating flexible devices because of their solution processable and conformal coating compatibility with the flexible substrate,...…”

Stable epidermal electronic device with strain isolation induced by in situ Joule heating

“…Flexible electronics are considered the next revolution in the electronics industry due to their potential applications in areas unreachable with rigid devices [1][2][3][4][5][6] . As a vital part of flexible electronics, epidermal electronics can be essentially applied in the area of health monitoring and humanmachine interfaces (HMIs) 7,8 .…”