Abstract
Thin-film electronic devices can be integrated with skin for health monitoring and/or for interfacing with machines. Minimal invasiveness is highly desirable when applying wearable electronics directly onto human skin. However, manufacturing such on-skin electronics on planar substrates results in limited gas permeability. Therefore, it is necessary to systematically investigate their long-term physiological and psychological effects. As a demonstration of substrate-free electronics, here we show the successful fabrication of inflammation-free, highly gas-permeable, ultrathin, lightweight and stretchable sensors that can be directly laminated onto human skin for long periods of time, realized with a conductive nanomesh structure. A one-week skin patch test revealed that the risk of inflammation caused by on-skin sensors can be significantly suppressed by using the nanomesh sensors. Furthermore, a wireless system that can detect touch, temperature and pressure is successfully demonstrated using a nanomesh with excellent mechanical durability. In addition, electromyogram recordings were successfully taken with minimal discomfort to the user.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Someya, T. et al. A large-area, flexible pressure sensor matrix with organic field-effect transistors for artificial skin applications. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101, 9966–9970 (2004).
Someya, T. et al. Conformable, flexible, large-area networks of pressure and thermal sensors with organic transistor active matrixes. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci, USA 102, 12321–12325 (2005).
Kim, D.-H. et al. Epidermal electronics. Science 333, 838–843 (2011).
Jeong, J.-W. et al. Materials and optimized designs for human-machine interfaces via epidermal electronics. Adv. Mater. 25, 6839–6846 (2013).
Kaltenbrunner, M. et al. An ultra-lightweight design for imperceptible plastic electronics. Nature 499, 458–463 (2013).
Sun, F. et al. A review of attacks and security protocols for wireless sensor networks. J. Networks 9, 1103–1113 (2014).
Kim, D.-H. et al. Dissolvable films of silk fibroin for ultrathin conformal bio-integrated electronics. Nat. Mater. 9, 511–517 (2010).
Pang, C. et al. Highly skin-conformal microhairy sensor for pulse signal amplification. Adv. Mater. 27, 634–640 (2015).
Choi, M. K. et al. Cephalopod-inspired miniaturized suction cups for smart medical skin. Adv. Healthc. Mater. 5, 80–87 (2016).
Yokota, T. et al. Ultraflexible organic photonic skin. Sci. Adv. 2, e1501856 (2016).
Choi, M. K. et al. Wearable red–green–blue quantum dot light-emitting diode array using high-resolution intaglio transfer printing. Nat. Commun. 6, 7149 (2015).
Sun, J. Y., Keplinger, C., Whitesides, G. M. & Suo, Z. Ionic skin. Adv. Mater. 26, 7608–7614 (2014).
Bandodkar, A. J. et al. Tattoo-based noninvasive glucose monitoring: a proof-of-concept study. Anal. Chem. 87, 394–398 (2015).
Lee, H. et al. A graphene-based electrochemical device with thermoresponsive microneedles for diabetes monitoring and therapy. Nat. Nanotech. 11, 566–572 (2016).
Isik, M. et al. Cholinium-based ion gels as solid electrolytes for long-term cutaneous electrophysiology. J. Mater. Chem. C 3, 8942–8948 (2015).
Norton, J. J. S. et al. Soft, curved electrode systems capable of integration on the auricle as a persistent brain–computer interface. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 3920–3925 (2015).
Möller, H. Contact allergy to gold as a model for clinical-experimental research. Contact Dermatitis 62, 193–200 (2010).
Chen, J. K. & Lampel, H. P. Gold contact allergy. Dermatitis 26, 69–77 (2015).
Sekitani, T. et al. A rubberlike stretchable active matrix using elastic conductors. Science 321, 1468–1472 (2008).
Vural, M., Behrens, A. M., Ayyub, O. B., Ayoub, J. J. & Kofinas, P. Sprayable elastic conductors based on composites. ACS Nano 9, 336–344 (2015).
Jin, Y. et al. Buckled Au@PVP nanofiber networks for highly transparent and stretchable conductors. Adv. Electron. Mater. 2, 1500302 (2016).
Park, M. et al. Highly stretchable electric circuits from a composite material of silver nanoparticles and elastomeric fibres. Nat. Nanotech. 7, 803–809 (2012).
Lacour, S. P., Chan, D., Wagner, S., Li, T. & Suo, Z. Mechanisms of reversible stretchability of thin metal films on elastomeric substrates. Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 204103 (2006).
Han, S. et al. Mechanically reinforced skin-electronics with networked nanocomposite elastomer. Adv. Mater. 28, 10257–10265 (2016).
Yokota, T. et al. Ultraflexible, large-area, physiological temperature sensors for multipoint measurements. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 112, 14533–14538 (2015).
Canavese, G., Lombardi, M., Stassi, S. & Pirri, C. F. Comprehensive characterization of large piezoresistive variation of Ni-PDMS composites. Appl. Mech. Mater. 110–116, 1336–1344 (2011).
Stassi, S. & Canavese, G. Spiky nanostructured metal particles as filler of polymeric composites showing tunable electrical conductivity. J. Polym. Sci. Part B 50, 984–992 (2012).
Lee, S. et al. A transparent bending-insensitive pressure sensor. Nat. Nanotech. 11, 472–478 (2016).
Ding, B., Wang, M., Wang, X., Yu, J. & Sun, G. Electrospun nanomaterials for ultrasensitive sensors. Mater. Today 13, 16–27 (November, 2010).
Liu, Y. et al. Epidermal mechano-acoustic sensing electronics for cardiovascular diagnostics and human-machine interfaces. Sci. Adv. 2, e1601185 (2016).
Yang, M.-R. & Chen, K.-S. Humidity sensors using polyvinyl alcohol mixed with electrolytes. Sens. Actuat. B 49, 240–247 (1998).
Wu, H. et al. A transparent electrode based on a metal nanotrough network. Nat. Nanotech. 8, 421–425 (2013).
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the JST ERATO Bio-Harmonized Electronics Project (Grant Number:JPMJER1105). A.M. would like to thank K. Okaniwa for providing the wireless communication module. The authors would like to express their gratitude to D. D. Ordinario for his assistance in editing and proofreading the manuscript. S.H.L. would like to acknowledge the support from the SEUT Program of Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo. N.M. is supported by the Advanced Leading Graduate Course for Photon Science (ALPS) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) research fellowship for young scientists. H.J. is supported by the Graduate Program for Leaders in Life Innovation (GPLLI).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
A.M., S.W.L., N.F.C., M.M. and L.Y. fabricated the nanomeshes. A.M., S.H.L., N.M., L.Y., T.Y., M.S., A.I. and T.S. performed electric and mechanical characterizations and analysis. H.K., H.J., T.E. and M.A. performed biocompatible tests. T.S., A.M. and N.M. wrote the manuscript. T.S. supervised this project.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
Supplementary information
Supplementary information (PDF 909 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Miyamoto, A., Lee, S., Cooray, N. et al. Inflammation-free, gas-permeable, lightweight, stretchable on-skin electronics with nanomeshes. Nature Nanotech 12, 907–913 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.125
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2017.125
This article is cited by
-
A skin-conformal and breathable humidity sensor for emotional mode recognition and non-contact human-machine interface
npj Flexible Electronics (2024)
-
The wearable electronic patch that’s impervious to sweat
Nature (2024)
-
A three-dimensional liquid diode for soft, integrated permeable electronics
Nature (2024)
-
Sweat permeable and ultrahigh strength 3D PVDF piezoelectric nanoyarn fabric strain sensor
Nature Communications (2024)
-
Electrospinning of nanofibres
Nature Reviews Methods Primers (2024)