Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea.
Center for Bio-Integrated Electronics, Simpson Querrey Institute for Nano/Biotechnology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208, USA.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2019 Nov;8(22):e1900978. doi: 10.1002/adhm.201900978. Epub 2019 Oct 9.
Wearable pressure sensors capable of sensitive, precise, and continuous measurement of physiological and physical signals have great potential for the monitoring of health status and the early diagnosis of diseases. This work introduces a 3D-printed rigid microbump-integrated liquid metal-based soft pressure sensor (3D-BLiPS) for wearable and health-monitoring applications. Using a 3D-printed master mold based on multimaterial fused deposition modeling, the fabrication of a liquid metal microchannel and the integration of a rigid microbump array above the microchannel are achieved in a one-step, direct process. The microbump array enhances the sensitivity of the pressure sensor (0.158 kPa ) by locally concentrating the deformation of the microchannel with negligible hysteresis and a stable signal response under cyclic loading. The 3D-BLiPS also demonstrates excellent robustness to 10 000 cycles of multidirectional stretching/bending, changes in temperature, and immersion in water. Finally, these characteristics are suitable for a wide range of applications in health monitoring systems, including a wristband for the continuous monitoring of the epidermal pulse rate for cuffless blood pressure estimation and a wireless wearable device for the monitoring of body pressure using a multiple pressure sensor array for the prevention of pressure ulcers.
可穿戴压力传感器能够敏感、精确、连续地测量生理和物理信号,在健康状态监测和疾病早期诊断方面具有巨大的潜力。本工作介绍了一种用于可穿戴和健康监测应用的 3D 打印刚性微凸块集成液态金属基软压力传感器(3D-BLiPS)。使用基于多材料熔丝制造的 3D 打印母模,在一步直接工艺中实现了微通道的制造和微通道上方刚性微凸块阵列的集成。微凸块阵列通过局部集中微通道的变形来提高压力传感器的灵敏度(0.158kPa),在循环加载下具有可忽略的滞后和稳定的信号响应。3D-BLiPS 还表现出优异的鲁棒性,可经受 10000 次的多向拉伸/弯曲、温度变化和水浸循环。最后,这些特性非常适合广泛应用于健康监测系统中,包括用于连续监测表皮脉搏率以进行无袖带血压估计的腕带,以及用于使用多个压力传感器阵列监测体压以预防压疮的无线可穿戴设备。