Session 8-1

Abstract

Wearable healthcare devices realize reliable monitoring of physiological signals in the long term, which helps us find or prevent diseases in the early stage. However, current wearable devices, such as watches or rings, have poor skin contact, degrading signal integrity. This is due to the huge mechanical mismatch between rigid wearables and soft human skin.[1] In this presentation, we show skin-like soft sensors and displays formed with stretchable electronic materials. For example, we developed high-resolution patternable stretchable conducting polymers which allowed us to fabricate skin-conformable sensors.[2] We fabricated an ultrathin and stretchable electrochromic display, which can be used as an information display for signals obtained by skin-attached sensors (Figure 1). Furthermore, our stretchable piezoelectric sensor has a modulus of ~10 MPa and thickness of less than 10 µm, which allows us to form a highly conformal contact to the skin. The sensor allowed us to record the deformation of skin while minimizing the discomfort of wearing.