Soft Bio-Integrated Multifunctional Devices Using an Intrinsically Stretchable Conducting Nanomembrane

Soft bioelectronic systems with a unique mechanical property, namely modulus matching between human skin (or tissue) and the device, have gained widespread attention. This is because of their closed-loop strain-insensitive electrical performance ranging from application in the long-term stable measurements of physiological signals and feedback modulation to human skin (or organs). Various materials and integration/fabrication strategies such as buckled, rigid islands, and wavy designs addressed for soft bioelectronic systems require complex device fabrication with time-consuming packaging and integration processes. In this study, we developed a soft bio-integrated multifunctional device (SBMD) fabricated through the simple thermal evaporation and transfer processes. The intrinsically stretchable Au-SEBS film composed of thermally evaporated gold (Au) nanomembranes and an elastomeric substrate was applied to various functional modules that are capable of sensing the strain (up to similar to 300%), temperature (with a thermal sensitivity of similar to 0.6 omega/degrees C), chemicals (at a concentration of NaCl of similar to 0.5 wt%), and even electrophysiological cardiac/muscle signals and showing thermal actuations (80 degrees C at 9 V). Specifically, such multifunctions of the SBMD were stably performed even on skin. Thus, we believe the SBMD would be a promising candidate for realizing soft bioelectronic systems.

Automated summary

Soft bioelectronic systems with modulus matching to human skin have gained attention for their strain-insensitive electrical performance. In this study, a multifunctional device was developed through simple fabrication processes and showed stable performance on skin, making it a promising candidate for soft bioelectronic systems.