I-Corps: Flexible and Stretchable Electronic Skin Sensor

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力与新兴的“电子皮肤”应用有关。将该技术应用于糖尿病高危人群压疮的早期检测，将使糖尿病足溃疡愈合者的截肢率降低到1%以下。特别是，压疮是由于皮肤长期受压造成的皮肤损伤，通常伴有糖尿病患者因神经损伤和血液循环问题而无法感觉到疼痛，从而降低了身体的愈合能力，增加了感染的风险。因此，早期发现压疮对于防止病情恶化而需要截肢是很重要的。该项目的技术将产生一种低成本的连续监测系统，该系统与人的身体和日常活动无缝连接，从而改善对糖尿病高危患者的护理。I-Corps的这个项目是基于一种将导电纳米材料与柔性橡胶状聚合物平台结合在一起的新设计技术。可拉伸和柔性电极由垂直排列的碳纳米管组成，部分嵌入在聚二甲基硅氧烷衬底中，使得设备在拉伸和弯曲下都可靠和稳定。作为概念验证，该传感器已成功用于测量人体的生物信号。这项技术将直接影响传感和电子存储设备向医疗和电子皮肤应用的发展。特别是，由此产生的努力将直接受益于医学领域，为关键伤口发展阶段的预后和模式识别提供更大的见解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project relates to the emerging "electronics skin" application. Adapting the technology towards early detection of pressure ulcers for at risk individuals with diabetes will result in prevention of amputations for persons with healed diabetic foot ulcers to less than 1%. In particular, a pressure ulcer is a skin injury resulting from prolonged pressure on the skin, often complicated by diabetic's common inability to feel pain due to nerve damage and blood circulation problems reducing the body's ability to heal and increasing risk of infection. Thus, early detection of pressure ulcers is important to prevent worsening conditions that necessitate amputation of limb(s). The technology from this project will result in a low-cost continuous monitoring system that is seamless to one's body and daily activities, enabling improved care for at risk individuals with diabetes.This I-Corps project is based on the technology that combines electrically conductive nanomaterials with a flexible, rubber-like polymer platform in a novel design. The stretchable and flexible electrodes are composed of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes partially embedded in a polydimethylsiloxane substrate, which facilitates reliable and stable devices under both stretching and bending. As a proof-of-concept, the sensor was successfully tested for measuring biological signals of a person. This technology will directly impact the development of sensing and electronic storage devices toward medical and e-skin applications. In particular, the resulting endeavor will directly benefit the medical field, providing greater insight into prognosis and pattern recognition at critical wound development stages.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.