Insang You

Material Approaches to Stretchable Strain Sensors

With the recent progress made in wearable electronics, devices now require high flexibility and stretchability up to large strain levels (typically larger than 30u2009% strain). Wearable strain sensors or deformable strain sensors have been gaining increasing research interest because of the rapid development of electronic skins and robotics and because of their biomedical applications. Conventional brittle strain sensors made of metals and piezoresistors are not applicable for such stretchable sensors. This Review summarizes recent advances in stretchable sensors and focuses on material aspects for high stretchability and sensitivity. It begins with a brief introduction to the Wheatstone bridge circuit of conventional resistive strain sensors. Then, studies on the manipulation of materials are reviewed, including waved structural approaches for making metals and semiconductors stretchable, the use of liquid metals, and conductive filler/elastomer composites by using percolation among the fillers. For capacitive strain sensors, the constant conductivity of the electrode is a key factor in obtaining reliable sensors. Possible approaches to developing capacitive strain sensors are presented. This Review concludes with a discussion on the major challenges and perspectives related to stretchable strain sensors.

Stretchable E‐Skin Apexcardiogram Sensor

A new strategy to measure the apex cardiogram with electronic skin technology is presented. An electronic skin apexcardiogram sensor, which can compensate the conventional electrocardiogram for cardiac diagnosis, is demonstrated through a highly sensitive and stretchable strain sensor with gold-nanoparticle composites.

Interfacing Liquid Metals with Stretchable Metal Conductors

UNLABELLEDnHighly stretchable conductors are essential components in deformable electronics. Owing to their high stretchability and conductivity, liquid metals have attracted significant attention for use as circuits and interconnections. However, their poor wettability to stretchable metal electrodes prevents the formation of stable electrical connections. This study examined two approaches for creating a stable interface between a liquid metal (EGaIn) and stretchable metal electrodes via: (i) the use of honeycomb-structured stretchable metal electrodes and (ii) the addition of a conducting polymer interlayer. The line width of the honeycomb had a significant influence on the formation of a stable interface. The liquid metal formed a stable film layer on honeycomb metal electrodes, which have line widths of less than 50 μm. CoatingnnnPEDOTnPSS with a nonionic surfactant lowered the interfacial energy of EGaIn with flat stretchable metal surfaces; hence EGaIn was coated uniformly on the stretchable metal surfaces. Strain sensors were fabricated as a demonstrative example of an application that utilizes the stable interface.

Hygroscopic Auxetic On-Skin Sensors for Easy-to-handle Repeated Daily Uses

Despite the advance of on-skin sensors over the last decade, a sensor that solves simultaneously the critical issues for using in everyday life, such as stable performance in various environments, use over a long period of time, and repeated use by easy handling, has not yet been achieved. Here, we introduce an auxetic hygroscopic sensor that simultaneously meets all of the conditions. The auxetic structure with a negative Poissons ratio matches with deformation of the skin in ankles; hence, a conformal contact between the sensor and the skin could be maintained during repeated movements. Sweat was absorbed in the auxetic electrode made of a hydrogel pattern coated with Ag nanowires and evaporated quickly; such hygroscopic characteristic led to excellent breathability. An electrocardiogram sensor and a haptic device were fabricated according to the proposed design for a sensor electrode. The sensors provide stable detecting performance in various environments, such as exercising, submersion in water, exposure to concentrated salt water, and continuous wearing for long time (7 days). Also, the sensors could be manually attached repeatedly without degrading the performance. This study provides new structural insights for on-skin sensors and presents future research directions.

Conductive magnetic-patchy colloidal microparticles for a high performance pressure sensor

A robust and straightforward approach for fabrication of a new type of colloidal pressure sensor was proposed. For this purpose, we synthesized uniform conductive magnetic-patchy microparticles using a microfluidic technique and then coated them with poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate) layers using the layer-by-layer deposition. Finally we showed that the magnetic-patchy conductive microparticles could be positioned on the target sites while precisely detecting pressure changes with excellent sensitivity.