Two‐Layered and Stretchable e‐Textile Patches for Wearable Healthcare Electronics

Abstract

Wearable healthcare systems require skin‐adhering electrodes that allow maximal comfort for patients as well as an electronics system to enable signal processing and transmittance. Textile‐based electronics, known as “e‐textiles,” is a platform technology that allows comfort for patients. Here, two‐layered e‐textile patches are designed by controlled permeation of Ag‐particle/fluoropolymer composite ink into a porous textile. The permeated ink forms a cladding onto the nanofibers in the textile substrate, which is beneficial for mechanical and electrical properties of the e‐textile. The printed e‐textile features conductivity of ≈3200 S cm−1, whereas 1000 cycles of 30% uniaxial stretching causes the resistance to increase only by a factor of ≈5, which is acceptable in many applications. Controlling over the penetration depth enables a two‐layer design of the e‐textile, where the sensing electrodes and the conducting traces are printed in the opposite sides of the substrate. The formation of vertical interconnected access is remarkably simple as an injection from a syringe. With the custom‐developed electronic circuits, a surface electromyography system with wireless data transmission is demonstrated. Furthermore, the dry e‐textile patch collects electroencephalography with comparable signal quality to commercial gel electrodes. It is anticipated that the two‐layered e‐textiles will be effective in healthcare and sports applications.

Hydrogel‐Enabled Transfer‐Printing of Conducting Polymer Films for Soft Organic Bioelectronics

“…These unique properties of PEDOT:PSS have enabled the development of numerous advanced organic electronic devices including solar cells, light‐emitting diodes, transistors, memristors, and artificial synapses for neuromorphic computing . Recently, with the rising research trend in flexible electronics, which have offered unprecedented opportunities in revolutionizing our understanding of electronic devices, PEDOT:PSS has extended its important role in developing various flexible organic electronic devices such as organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), an emerging tool for biosensing . However, directly manipulating and patterning PEDOT:PSS thin films on flexible substrates remain challenging because of difficulties in obtaining uniform and continuous films on soft substrates such as plastics and elastomers due to their hydrophobic nature .…”

A Naturally Integrated Smart Textile for Wearable Electronics Applications

“…To date, these sensors based on different configurations have been designed, fabricated, and applied for wearable human health detection, elderly monitoring, and human–robot interactions . Chung et al developed a two‐layered e‐textile patch using a porous textile substrate and controlled permeated ink as a surface electromyography sensor . Kim et al proposed a skin sensor with hierarchically engineered elastic carbon nanotube fabrics that could simultaneously and effectively perceive tactile and external stimuli .…”

Wearable and Flexible Textile Electrodes for Biopotential Signal Monitoring: A review

“…In addition, a novel electrically conductive polymer fabric, which has 0.07 Ω/square of conductivity, was coated on a 0.2 mm thick taffeta material and benchmarked against standard electrodes, showing a high correlation of ~96% and ~90% from the forehead and hairy sites on the head, respectively [147]. Most recently, textile electrodes fabricated by jet-printing using Ag-powder/fluoropolymer-based nanocomposite ink with two-layer e-textiles were developed, and their functionality was demonstrated in EEG monitoring experiments including activities of closing and opening the eyes for a duration up to 15 minutes, with the electrodes mounted behind the ears on hairless regions [113].…”