Abrasion-resistant wearable skins based on bilayered solid/liquid stretchable conductors

Area of Science:

• Materials Science and Engineering
• Bioelectronics
• Wearable Technology

Background:

• Soft bioelectronic skins are promising for continuous, unobtrusive biomonitoring.
• Existing wearable skins often lack the abrasion resistance of human skin.
• Need for durable sensors capable of withstanding mechanical and chemical stresses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop abrasion-resistant wearable electronic skins.
• To ensure high conductivity and electromechanical stability under extreme conditions.
• To demonstrate reliable signal capture for biomonitoring applications.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a bilayer stretchable conductor architecture using styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene (SEBS).
• Top layer: silver particle (AgPs)-impregnated SEBS for abrasion resistance.
• Bottom layer: liquid metal particle (LMPs)-impregnated SEBS for high conductivity (>900% strain).

Main Results:

• The ultrathin (13.3 µm) bilayer skins exhibited exceptional durability against abrasion, large deformations, and harsh chemical environments.
• Maintained electromechanical stability during repeated stress tests.
• Successfully captured high-fidelity mechanical and electrophysiological signals in demanding scenarios.

Conclusions:

• The developed bilayer wearable skins offer superior abrasion resistance and durability for next-generation biomonitoring.
• Demonstrated a soft, multimodal system for pressure and biopotential monitoring.
• Achieved high prediction accuracy (98.75%) in applications like braille recognition and facial expression detection.