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Micro-Actuated Tunable Hierarchical Silver Nanostructures to Measure Tensile Force for Biomedical Wearable Sensing
Yong Ho Kwon1, Jayer Fernandes1, Jae-Jun Kim1
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Micromachines
|April 30, 2021
Summary
Researchers developed flexible, passive photonic devices for real-time tensile strain measurement. These biocompatible sensors offer optical readouts, eliminating the need for power and data transfer, advancing wearable biomedical sensing.
Area of Science:
- Nanophotonics
- Biomedical Engineering
- Materials Science
Background:
- Current biomedical wearable sensors for tensile strain face miniaturization challenges due to size, weight, and power requirements.
- Flexible and epidermal electronics offer solutions but often still necessitate power and data transmission.
- Existing technologies struggle with seamless integration and long-term, unpowered operation in biomedical applications.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop flexible, passive, and biocompatible nanostructured photonic devices for real-time tensile strain measurement.
- To overcome the limitations of power consumption and data transfer in current wearable strain sensors.
- To introduce an optical readout method for strain sensing, enhancing miniaturization and applicability.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of hierarchical silver (Ag) nanostructures (20-60 nm thickness) on a stretchable substrate using e-beam lithography and low-temperature dewetting.
- Utilizing a two-level design approach for the hierarchical Ag nanostructures to enhance design flexibility.
- Characterization of the optical response (peak reflectance shift) under applied tensile force.
Main Results:
- Demonstrated flexible, passive, and biocompatible nanostructured photonic devices capable of real-time tensile strain measurement.
- Observed a significant blue shift of over 100 nm in peak reflectance within the visible spectrum due to Poisson contraction under tensile force.
- Achieved an optical readout, eliminating the need for electronic components, power supply, and data transfer.
Conclusions:
- The developed nanostructured photonic devices offer a promising solution for miniaturized, power-free, and biocompatible strain sensing in biomedical applications.
- The optical readout mechanism provides a novel approach for real-time monitoring of mechanical strain.
- These passive photonic sensors pave the way for advanced wearable biomedical devices with enhanced conformability and reduced complexity.
