The development of methods for the 3D printing of multifunctional devices could impact areas ranging from wearable electronics and energy harvesting devices to smart prosthetics and human–machine interfaces. Recently, the development of stretchable electronic devices has accelerated, concomitant with advances in functional materials and fabrication processes. In particular, novel strategies have been developed to enable the intimate biointegration of wearable electronic devices with human skin in ways that bypass the mechanical and thermal restrictions of traditional microfabrication technologies. Here, a multimaterial, multiscale, and multifunctional 3D printing approach is employed to fabricate 3D tactile sensors under ambient conditions conformally onto freeform surfaces. The customized sensor is demonstrated with the capabilities of detecting and differentiating human movements including pulse monitoring and finger motions. The custom 3D printing of functional materials and devices opens new routes for the biointegration of various sensors in wearable electronics systems, and toward advanced bionic skin applications.

My takeaways:

1. The researchers build a functioning piezoelectric sensor on a flexible substrate. The novelty is in the ink formulations and manufacturing methods they used to create these sensitive materials.

2. The future potential of this material is exciting because of how it can be adopted to areas including artificial skin and wearable devices able to track a variety of biomarkers. For example, I am developing glucose sensors that could easily be incorporated into the sensing layer of this flexible electronic for non-invasive glucose sensing in sweat.

Advanced Materials, 2017, vol 29, 1701218

Michael McAlpine from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Minnesota

Funding is through NIH (NIBIB)