Recent Advances in Skin-Inspired Sensors Enabled by Nanotechnology

Loh, Kenneth J.; Azhari, Faezeh

doi:10.1007/s11837-012-0358-5

Cited by 22 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 155 publications

(169 reference statements)

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“…The BPW continuously acquired at the wrist may be employed in mathematical entities, transfer functions (TFs), to infer systolic and diastolic BP values after a proper wave calibration [ 260 , 261 ]. Due to the recent advances in the acquisition of the radial BPW, especially in the field of e-skin [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 48 , 262 , 263 ], there is still room for improving this technique and increasing its robustness, simplicity and reliability for practical use, in a continuous way and without limiting the activities of the subject. A radial BPW is composed of an incident wave (generated by blood flow) and two reflected waves (from the hand region and from the lower body) [ 22 , 264 ], as shown in Figure 11 g. Its first peak (P 1 ) corresponds to the sum of the incident wave and the reflected wave from the hand, while the second peak (P 2 ) corresponds to the difference of the reflected wave from the lower body and the end-diastolic pressure [ 264 ].…”

Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transduction Mechanisms, Micro-Structuring Techniques, and Applications of Electronic Skin Pressure Sensors: A Review of Recent Advances

Santos

Fortunato

Martins

et al. 2020

Sensors

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Electronic skin (e-skin), which is an electronic surrogate of human skin, aims to recreate the multifunctionality of skin by using sensing units to detect multiple stimuli, while keeping key features of skin such as low thickness, stretchability, flexibility, and conformability. One of the most important stimuli to be detected is pressure due to its relevance in a plethora of applications, from health monitoring to functional prosthesis, robotics, and human-machine-interfaces (HMI). The performance of these e-skin pressure sensors is tailored, typically through micro-structuring techniques (such as photolithography, unconventional molds, incorporation of naturally micro-structured materials, laser engraving, amongst others) to achieve high sensitivities (commonly above 1 kPa−1), which is mostly relevant for health monitoring applications, or to extend the linearity of the behavior over a larger pressure range (from few Pa to 100 kPa), an important feature for functional prosthesis. Hence, this review intends to give a generalized view over the most relevant highlights in the development and micro-structuring of e-skin pressure sensors, while contributing to update the field with the most recent research. A special emphasis is devoted to the most employed pressure transduction mechanisms, namely capacitance, piezoelectricity, piezoresistivity, and triboelectricity, as well as to materials and novel techniques more recently explored to innovate the field and bring it a step closer to general adoption by society.

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Section: Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transduction Mechanisms, Micro-Structuring Techniques, and Applications of Electronic Skin Pressure Sensors: A Review of Recent Advances

Santos

Fortunato

Martins

et al. 2020

Sensors

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“…An alternative is to use high‐performance, stretchable, elastomeric strain sensors [ 20 ] (e.g., using nanomaterials including silver nanoparticles [ 21 ] or aligned single‐walled carbon nanotubes [ 22 ] ) mounted directly onto skin. In particular, graphene possesses extraordinary mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, [ 23 ] and many sensors based on graphene exhibit superior sensing performance thanks to their topology‐dependent, strain‐sensitive, electromechanical properties.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Graphene K‐Tape Meshes for Densely Distributed Human Motion Monitoring

Lin

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2020

Adv Materials Technologies

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risks increase with aging and are worsened by the global obesity epidemic. [3] At the other end of the spectrum, athletes, and military service members that undergo intense physical training and recreational activities can suffer severe overuse injuries. [4] Therefore, the ability to accurately monitor the range, amplitude, and quality of bodily movements is critical for promoting behavioral changes that yield higher levels of activity, maintaining and enhancing personal wellness, improving functional performance, preventing debilitating musculoskeletal injuries, and facilitating active rehabilitation. Wearable sensors that measure parameters associated with physical activity and bodily motions have been regarded as an indispensable tool for assessing personal wellness. Among its ≈350 million users worldwide (in 2019), [5,6] mainstream commercialized wearables pack force transducers, gyroscopes, [7] accelerometers, [8] and magnetometers in a hardcase accessory, [9] such as watches or bracelets, [10-12] to record vital signs (e.g., heart rate, respiration rate, peripheral oxygen saturation, and body temperature) and physical activity (e.g., steps). Despite their prevalence, they offer limited accuracy [13-15] , and their large, rigid, and bulky form factors can cause user discomfort or inconvenience, especially for the elderly. Recent advances in flexible sensors allow them to be worn at locations where traditional devices would otherwise be unsuitable or challenging because of their limited stretch-ability. [16] One approach is to integrate soft and flexible elastomeric sensors with fabric to monitor vitals and physiological parameters, [17] garments to measure hip, knee, and ankle kinematics, [18] and gloves to monitor finger motion, pressure, and tensile forces. [19] However, movement-and motion-induced strains in skin may not be effectively nor accurately measured by garment-based sensors due to poor strain transfer. An alternative is to use high-performance, stretchable, elastomeric strain sensors [20] (e.g., using nanomaterials including silver nanoparticles [21] or aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes [22]) mounted directly onto skin. In particular, graphene possesses extraordinary mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, [23] and many sensors based on graphene exhibit superior sensing performance thanks to their topology-dependent, strain-sensitive, electromechanical properties. [24-26] For instance, a pulse monitor formed by integrating a crisscross graphene Wearable sensors that measure parameters associated with physical activity and bodily motions have been regarded as an indispensable tool for assessing personal wellness. Recent advances in nanocomposite strain sensors have been successfully used for monitoring skin strains and other strain-derived physiological parameters. This study complements the existing body of work and presents a flexible, self-adhering, fabric-based wearable sensor for measuring skin strains and human motions. Graphene nanosheet thin films are directly spray-coated on...

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“…Among the variety of nanomaterials that exist today, carbon nanotubes (CNT) have drawn significant attention because of their superior electromechanical properties. In fact, many researchers successfully demonstrated that CNTs could be effectively integrated into polymer matrices to realize high-performance thin film strain sensors [ 37 ]. In addition, CNTs were also used for various biomedical applications.…”

Section: Strain-sensitive Nanocomposite Thin Filmsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noncontact Strain Monitoring of Osseointegrated Prostheses

Gupta

Lee

Loh

et al. 2018

Sensors

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The objective of this study was to develop a noncontact, noninvasive, imaging system for monitoring the strain and deformation states of osseointegrated prostheses. The proposed sensing methodology comprised of two parts. First, a passive thin film was designed such that its electrical permittivity increases in tandem with applied tensile loading and decreases while unloading. It was found that patterning the thin films could enhance their dielectric property’s sensitivity to strain. The film can be deposited onto prosthesis surfaces as an external coating prior to implant. Second, an electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) measurement technique and reconstruction algorithm were implemented to capture strain-induced changes in the dielectric property of nanocomposite-coated prosthesis phantoms when subjected to different loading scenarios. The preliminary results showed that ECT, when coupled with strain-sensitive nanocomposites, could quantify the strain-induced changes in the dielectric property of thin film-coated prosthesis phantoms. The results suggested that ECT coupled with embedded thin films could serve as a new noncontact strain sensing method for scenarios when tethered strain sensors cannot be used or instrumented, especially in the case of osseointegrated prostheses.

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Recent Advances in Skin-Inspired Sensors Enabled by Nanotechnology

Cited by 22 publications

References 155 publications

Transduction Mechanisms, Micro-Structuring Techniques, and Applications of Electronic Skin Pressure Sensors: A Review of Recent Advances

Transduction Mechanisms, Micro-Structuring Techniques, and Applications of Electronic Skin Pressure Sensors: A Review of Recent Advances

Graphene K‐Tape Meshes for Densely Distributed Human Motion Monitoring

Noncontact Strain Monitoring of Osseointegrated Prostheses

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