Wanted: Partners to collaborate on wearable sensors

Simple stickers may improve the lives of heart patients, athletes and lower medical costs.

Researchers from Purdue University in the US have developed a sticker-based sensor technology which they believe could hold serious potential for the medtech sector. The research was recently published in ACS Advanced Materials and Interfaces. The researchers say they are looking for partners to test and commercialise their technology.

“For the first time, we have created wearable electronic devices that someone can easily attach to their skin and are made out of paper to lower the cost of personalised medicine,” said Ramses Martinez, a Purdue assistant professor of industrial engineering and biomedical engineering, who led the research team.

Their technology aligns with Purdue's Giant Leaps celebration, acknowledging the university’s global advancements made in health as part of Purdue’s 150th anniversary. This is one of the four themes of the yearlong celebration’s Ideas Festival, designed to showcase Purdue as an intellectual center solving real-world issues.

The “smart stickers” are made of cellulose, which is both biocompatible and breathable. They can be used to monitor physical activity and alert a wearer about possible health risks in real time.

Health professionals could use the Purdue stickers as implantable sensors to monitor the sleep of patients because they conform to internal organs without causing any adverse reactions. Athletes could also use the technology to monitor their health while exercising and swimming.

These stickers are patterned in serpentine shapes to make the devices as thin and stretchable as skin, making them imperceptible for the wearer.

Since paper degrades fast when it gets wet and human skin is prone to be covered in sweat, these stickers were coated with molecules that repel water, oil, dust and bacteria. Each sticker costs about a nickel to produce and can be made using printing and manufacturing technologies similar to those used to print books at high speed.

“The low cost of these wearable devices and their compatibility with large-scale manufacturing techniques will enable the quick adoption of these new fully disposable, wearable sensors in a variety of health care applications requiring single-use diagnostic systems,” Martinez said.

The technology is patented through the Purdue Office of Technology Commercialization. The researchers say they are looking for partners to test and commercialise their technology.