Mechanical and Civil Engineering Seminar

Bio-tissues are soft, curvilinear and dynamic whereas wafer-based electronics are hard, planar, and rigid. Over the past decade, stretchable high-performance inorganic electronics have emerged as a result of new structural designs and unique materials processes. Electronic tattoos (E-tattoos) represent a class of stretchable circuits, sensors, and stimulators that are ultrathin, ultrasoft, skin-conformable, and deformable just like a secondary skin. This talk introduces a low-cost, dry and freeform "cut-and-paste" method to fabricate E-tattoos within minutes. This method has been proved to work for thin film metals, polymers, ceramics, as well as 2D materials such as graphene. I will demonstrate the unique advantages of such disposable E-tattoos as a mobile and disposable platform for continuous vital sign monitoring, human-robot interface, as well as personalized therapeutics. Examples include sensors for electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG), electrooculogram (EOG), skin temperature, skin hydration, respiratory rate, blood pressure, oxygen saturation, as well as sweat (e.g. glucose and lactate). Microneedle based transdermal drug delivery system engineered on the e-tattoo closes the sensing-diagnosis-treatment loop. For wireless power and data transmission, NFC-enabled e-tattoos based on stretchable antenna will also be demonstrated.