CAREER: Solution‐based, Continuous Manufacturing of User‐friendly, On‐Skin Electronics for Customized Health‐Monitoring

这项学院早期职业发展(Career)补助金支持必要的基础研究，以实现基于解决方案的、连续制造用户友好的皮肤上电子产品，这些电子产品可以同时记录多个所需的人体生理信号(即多模式)，用于定制健康监测。新兴的皮肤可穿戴电子产品可以在临床医疗、个性化健康跟踪、人机界面和物联网等对国家繁荣和福利至关重要的领域找到广泛的应用。为了在现实环境中充分释放它们的潜力，下一代皮肤上可穿戴设备应该是用户友好的(例如，透气、抗菌、可热调节)、低成本和一次性，以最大限度地减少感染风险，并且是多模式的，以提供身体健康的全面画面。然而，柔性电子领域缺乏实现用户友好、透气的皮肤上可穿戴电子产品的大规模生产所需的知识。本项目旨在通过研究基于开槽模具的多功能多孔弹性衬底的可伸缩合成和多模式生物电子在多孔性衬底上的高通量无掩模喷墨打印来应对这一挑战。该项目中产生的概念验证设备将同时测量多种人体生物物理和生化信号，以帮助早期诊断心脏病和病毒感染。这项研究计划还包括协同教育和推广活动，包括课程开发、研究生和本科生的研究培训、工业暑期实习、面向公众的互动展览和K-12学生的夏令营。本研究的目标是发现用于大规模生产的相分离诱导多孔弹性体的加工-结构-性能关系，并了解喷墨打印纳米材料液滴与多孔结构的相互作用，以实现高质量的生物电子印刷。这三个相互关联的研究目标是：(I)揭示基于溶液的多功能用户友好型多孔弹性衬底的合成；(Ii)通过模拟和实验研究模型纳米材料(银纳米线和激光诱导石墨烯)在多孔性弹性衬底上的喷墨打印；以及(Iii)探索基于纳米材料的、定制的、多模式的生物电子学在多孔性衬底上的喷墨打印。这个项目寻求以下问题的答案。(I)槽模涂覆、相分离诱导的多孔弹性基板的加工条件、多孔结构和性能之间的精确可解释关系是什么？(2)在用户友好的多孔衬底上集成硅纳米纤维表面如何提高喷墨打印纳米材料图案的一致性、再现性和分辨率，以实现定制的多模式生物电子产品的高质量无掩膜打印？此外，表面包覆的有机硅纳米纤维由于其小直径和不规则的三维排列而具有抗菌能力。该项目可以从相分离诱导的多孔性材料的可伸缩合成和基于解决方案的多模式生物电子在多孔性衬底上的高通量打印两个方面推进先进制造的关键知识库。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant supports the fundamental studies necessary to achieve solution-based, continuous manufacturing of user-friendly, on-skin electronics which can simultaneously record multiple desired human physiological signals (i.e., multimodal) for customized health-monitoring. Emerging on-skin wearable electronics can find broad applications in clinical healthcare, personalized fitness tracking, human-machine interfaces, and the internet of things, which are important to national prosperity and welfare. To unleash their full potential in real-world settings, next-generation on-skin wearables should be user-friendly (e.g., breathable, antibacterial, thermally regulatable), be low-cost and disposable to minimize infection risks, and be multimodal to provide a comprehensive picture of the body’s health. However, the field of flexible electronics lacks the knowledge necessary to achieve mass production of user-friendly, breathable on-skin wearable electronics. This project aims to meet this challenge through the study of slot-die-based scalable synthesis of multifunctional porous elastic substrates and high-throughput mask-free inkjet printing of multimodal bioelectronics on porous substrates. The proof-of-concept device generated in this project will perform concurrent measurements of multiple human biophysical and biochemical signals to aid in the early diagnosis of heart diseases and virus infections. The research plan is complemented by synergistic educational and outreach activities, including curriculum development, research training for graduate and undergraduate students, summer internships with industry, interactive exhibitions for the general public and summer camps for K-12 students.The goal of this research is to discover the processing-structure-property relationships in phase-separation-induced porous elastomers for their mass manufacture and to understand the interplay of inkjet-printed nanomaterial droplets with porous structures for high-quality bioelectronics printing. The three interrelated research objectives are to (i) uncover the solution-based synthesis of multifunctional user-friendly porous elastic substrates; (ii) study inkjet printing of model nanomaterials (silver nanowires and laser-induced graphene) on porous elastic substrates via simulations and experiments; and (iii) explore inkjet printing of nanomaterials-based, customized, multimodal bioelectronics on porous substrates. This project seeks answers to the following questions. (i) What are precise interpretable relationships of the processing conditions, porous structures, and properties of slot-die-coated, phase-separation-induced porous elastic substrates? (ii) How does surface integration of silicone nanofibrils on user-friendly porous substrates improve the uniformity, reproducibility and resolution of inkjet-printed nanomaterial patterns to enable high-quality mask-free printing of customized multimodal bioelectronics? In addition, surface-coated silicone nanofibrils can offer antibacterial capability due to their small diameters and irregular three-dimensional arrangements. This project can advance the key knowledge base of advanced manufacturing from both phase-separation-induced scalable synthesis of porous materials and solution-based high-throughput printing of multimodal bioelectronics on the porous substrates.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.