Highly Stretchable and Skin Adhesive Soft Bioelectronic Patch for Long-Term Ambulatory Electrocardiography Monitoring

Wearable devices offer a revolutionary approach to ambulatory electrocardiography (ECG) for cardiovascular disease diagnosis. Herein, an adhesive, highly stretchable and conformal (ASC) patch for long-term ambulatory ECG monitoring is presented. The ASC patch is designed with a three-bridge structure to provide inhomogeneous strain distribution during stretching. Meanwhile, the electrical stability is achieved by stretchable liquid metal interconnects at the domain experiencing larger strain. Moreover, the long-term usability can be attained by an adhesive layer made of polydopamine/polyacrylamide glycerol-water hydrogel, maintaining good adhesiveness and stretchability for more than two weeks. Altogether, the patch can successfully measure stable high-quality ECG signals in relaxed, stretched, or underwater conditions. Enhanced mechanical and electrical properties exhibited by our ASC patch confer superior skin-device interface on either dry or wet conditions than that of current electrodes. The hydrogel-based patch displays conformal deformation along with the stretched skin. This work provides a scalable prototype for multilead wearable ECG devices and promises new opportunities for medical applications in soft electronics.

Automated summary

This study presents an adhesive, highly stretchable and conformal (ASC) patch for long-term ambulatory ECG monitoring, offering a revolutionary approach to cardiovascular disease diagnosis. The ASC patch demonstrates enhanced mechanical and electrical properties, providing stable high-quality ECG signals in various conditions. This work paves the way for scalable wearable ECG devices and new opportunities in medical applications in soft electronics.