Graphene Electronic Tattoo Sensors
Abstract
Tattoo-like epidermal sensors are an emerging class of truly wearable electronics, owing to their thinness and softness. While most of them are based on thin metal films, a silicon membrane, or nanoparticle-based printable inks, we report sub-micrometer thick, multimodal electronic tattoo sensors that are made of graphene. The graphene electronic tattoo (GET) is designed as filamentary serpentines and fabricated by a cost- and time-effective "wet transfer, dry patterning" method. It has a total thickness of 463 ± 30 nm, an optical transparency of ∼85%, and a stretchability of more than 40%. The GET can be directly laminated on human skin just like a temporary tattoo and can fully conform to the microscopic morphology of the surface of skin via just van der Waals forces. The open-mesh structure of the GET makes it breathable and its stiffness negligible. A bare GET is able to stay attached to skin for several hours without fracture or delamination. With liquid bandage coverage, a GET may stay functional on the skin for up to several days. As a dry electrode, GET-skin interface impedance is on par with medically used silver/silver-chloride (Ag/AgCl) gel electrodes, while offering superior comfort, mobility, and reliability. GET has been successfully applied to measure electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG), electroencephalogram (EEG), skin temperature, and skin hydration.
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There has been little progress in the development of soft SCG sensors.
“In contrast, there has been little progress in the development of soft SCG sensors.”
From A Chest‐Laminated Ultrathin and Stretchable E‐Tattoo for the Measurement of Electrocardiogram, Seismocardiogram, and Cardiac Time Intervals (2019) · cites this paper as [11]
Epidermal biosensors such as a graphene electronic tattoo (GET) resemble a tattoo and are not distinguishable when worn, thus providing more confidence in using this type of wearable sensor to capture disease data.
“This type of sensor resembles a tattoo, and is not distinguishable when worn, thus providing more confidence in using this type of wearable sensor to capture disease data [121].”
From Review of Wearable Devices and Data Collection Considerations for Connected Health (2021) · cites this paper as [121]
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- Authors
- Kabiri Ameri, S., Ho, R., Jang, H., Tao, L., Wang, Y., Wang, L., Schnyer, D. M., Akinwande, D., & Lu, N.
- Affiliations
- Texas Materials Institute (US)
- Southeast University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Akinwande, Deji
- Lu, Nanshu
- ORCID
- Venue
- ACS Nano
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2017-07-27
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 7634-7641
- ISSN
- 1936-0851 (ISSN-L)
- 1936-086X
- OpenAlex
- W2738103550
- Cited by
- 669
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 38 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 77 · 2023: 94 · 2022: 108 · 2021: 91 · 2020: 72 · 2019: 72 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 6
- FWCI
- 23.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- ACS Nano (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Office of Naval Research (N00014-16-1-2044)
- Division of Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems (ECCS-1541684)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Nanomaterials and Printing Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Graphene research and applications
- Keywords
- epidermal sensors, wearable electronics, flexible electronics, dry electrodes, electrocardiogram sensing, electromyography, EEG, skin temperature sensing, temporary tattoos
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