Skin-Friendly Electronics for Acquiring Human Physiological Signatures

Abstract

Epidermal sensing devices offer great potential for real-time health and fitness monitoring via continuous characterization of the skin for vital morphological, physiological, and metabolic parameters. However, peeling them off can be difficult and sometimes painful especially when these skin-mounted devices are applied on sensitive or wounded regions of skin due to their strong adhesion. A set of biocompatible and water-decomposable "skin-friendly" epidermal electronic devices fabricated on flexible, stretchable, and degradable protein-based substrates are reported. Strong adhesion and easy detachment are achieved concurrently through an environmentally benign, plasticized protein platform offering engineered mechanical properties and water-triggered, on-demand decomposition lifetime (transiency). Human experiments show that multidimensional physiological signals can be measured using these innovative epidermal devices consisting of electro- and biochemical sensing modules and analyzed for important physiological signatures using an artificial neural network. The advances provide unique, versatile capabilities and broader applications for user- and environmentally friendly epidermal devices.