Dr. Yong Zhu and Dr. John Muth, along with co-workers, are recognized on this year’s cover of Advance Healthcare Materials for their paper on low-cost, wearable skin hydration sensors made of conductive silver nanowires (AgNWs) inlaid in a silicone (PDMS) matrix.
The flexible and stretchable nature of the AgNW/PDMS sensor allows conformal contact to the skin and provides a conformal electrical/mechanical interface to the skin. The sensor can be worn continuously to monitor the skin hydration based on the skin impedance method. To make the sensors into wearable form factors, two integrated systems are demonstrated together with circuit chips, button cell batteries and Bluetooth. The first demonstrated system is a flexible wristband for skin hydration sensing and the second one is a chest patch consisting of a strain/motion sensor, three electrocardiography electrodes and a skin hydration sensor for multimodal sensing.
The low-cost, wearable, wireless and continuous sensing of skin hydration and other health parameters has potentials to monitor dehydration and other physiological parameters among athletes, first responders, military personnel and the elderly, provide insight to athletic performances, assist the cosmetic scientists for the development of moisturizers, and benefit the diagnosis of skin and other related diseases.
Dr. Shanshan Yao was recognized for her poster on the wearable sensor at the 6th Annual Postdoctoral Research Symposium (shown above).
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