Stretchable and Temperature-Sensitive Polymer Optical Fibers for Wearable Health Monitoring

Stretchable physical sensors that can detect and quantify human physiological signals such as temperature, are essential to the realization of healthcare devices for biomedical monitoring and human-machine interfaces. Despite recent achievements in stretchable electronic sensors using various conductive materials and structures, the design of stretchable sensors in optics remains a considerable challenge. Here, an optical strategy for the design of stretchable temperature sensors, which can maintain stable performance even under a strain deformation up to 80%, is reported. The optical temperature sensor is fabricated by the incorporation of thermal-sensitive upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs) in stretchable polymer-based optical fibers (SPOFs). The SPOFs are made from stretchable elastomers and constructed in a step-index core/cladding structure for effective light confinements. The UCNPs, incorporated in the SPOFs, provide thermal-sensitive upconversion emissions at dual wavelengths for ratiometric temperature sensing by near-infrared excitation, while the SPOFs endow the sensor with skin-like mechanical compliance and excellent light-guiding characteristics for laser delivery and emission collection. The broad applications of the proposed sensor in real-time monitoring of the temperature and thermal activities of the human body, providing optical alternatives for wearable health monitoring, are demonstrated.