A Triple-Mode Flexible E-Skin Sensor Interface for Multi-Purpose Wearable Applications

This study presents a flexible wireless electronic skin (e-skin) sensor system that includes a multi-functional sensor device, a triple-mode reconfigurable readout integrated circuit (ROIC), and a mobile monitoring interface. The e-skin device’s multi-functionality is achieved by an interlocked micro-dome array structure that uses a polyvinylidene fluoride and reduced graphene oxide (PVDF/RGO) composite material that is inspired by the structure and functions of the human fingertip. For multi-functional implementation, the proposed triple-mode ROIC is reconfigured to support piezoelectric, piezoresistance, and pyroelectric interfaces through single-type e-skin sensor devices. A flexible system prototype was developed and experimentally verified to provide various wireless wearable sensing functions—including pulse wave, voice, chewing/swallowing, breathing, knee movements, and temperature—while their real-time sensed data are displayed on a smartphone.

[1]  Franklin Bien,et al.  Tissue-Informative Mechanism for Wearable Non-invasive Continuous Blood Pressure Monitoring , 2014, Scientific Reports.

[2]  Benjamin C. K. Tee,et al.  25th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Electronic Skin (E‐Skin): A Brief History, Design Considerations, and Recent Progress , 2013, Advanced materials.

[3]  Byeong-Su Kim,et al.  Flexible Textile Strain Wireless Sensor Functionalized with Hybrid Carbon Nanomaterials Supported ZnO Nanowires with Controlled Aspect Ratio , 2016 .

[4]  Dong Sup Lee,et al.  Soft, conformal bioelectronics for a wireless human-wheelchair interface. , 2017, Biosensors & bioelectronics.

[5]  Benjamin C. K. Tee,et al.  Skin-like pressure and strain sensors based on transparent elastic films of carbon nanotubes. , 2011, Nature nanotechnology.

[6]  Dae Jung Kim,et al.  A Multisensor Mobile Interface for Industrial Environment and Healthcare Monitoring , 2017, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics.

[7]  S. Yao,et al.  Wearable multifunctional sensors using printed stretchable conductors made of silver nanowires. , 2014, Nanoscale.

[8]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Recent Progress in Electronic Skin , 2015, Advanced science.

[9]  Carmen C. Y. Poon,et al.  Unobtrusive Sensing and Wearable Devices for Health Informatics , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[10]  Gabor C. Temes,et al.  Circuit techniques for reducing the effects of op-amp imperfections: autozeroing, correlated double sampling, and chopper stabilization , 1996, Proc. IEEE.

[11]  Dae Jung Kim,et al.  A Wireless ExG Interface for Patch-Type ECG Holter and EMG-Controlled Robot Hand , 2017, Sensors.

[12]  Chanseok Lee,et al.  Ultrasensitive mechanical crack-based sensor inspired by the spider sensory system , 2014, Nature.

[13]  Sung Youb Kim,et al.  Tactile-direction-sensitive and stretchable electronic skins based on human-skin-inspired interlocked microstructures. , 2014, ACS nano.

[14]  A. Cournand,et al.  Physiological studies of the effects of intermittent positive pressure breathing on cardiac output in man. , 1947, The American journal of physiology.

[15]  Xuewen Wang,et al.  Silk‐Molded Flexible, Ultrasensitive, and Highly Stable Electronic Skin for Monitoring Human Physiological Signals , 2014, Advanced materials.

[16]  Antonio J. López-Martín,et al.  Two-Stage Differential Charge and Transresistance Amplifiers , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[17]  Jonghwa Park,et al.  Fingertip skin–inspired microstructured ferroelectric skins discriminate static/dynamic pressure and temperature stimuli , 2015, Science Advances.

[18]  J. Jang,et al.  Highly Sensitive and Multifunctional Tactile Sensor Using Free-standing ZnO/PVDF Thin Film with Graphene Electrodes for Pressure and Temperature Monitoring , 2015, Scientific Reports.

[19]  W. Nichols Clinical measurement of arterial stiffness obtained from noninvasive pressure waveforms. , 2005, American journal of hypertension.

[20]  K. Hata,et al.  A stretchable carbon nanotube strain sensor for human-motion detection. , 2011, Nature nanotechnology.

[21]  Qiang Liu,et al.  High-Performance Strain Sensors with Fish-Scale-Like Graphene-Sensing Layers for Full-Range Detection of Human Motions. , 2016, ACS nano.