Lantern-Inspired On-Skin Helical Interconnects for Epidermal Electronic Sensors

Epidermal electronics have been attracting considerable attention due to their various potential applications in human-computer interaction and health monitoring. However, because of the lack of a self-adhesive and stable interconnect method between epidermal electronic sensors and rigid circuit boards, there remain difficulties in detecting body signals accurately by epidermal electronic sensors in daily life. Here, a 3D helical on-skin interconnect is first introduced for epidermal electronics sensors. Inspired by the structure of the accordion lantern, the interconnect is composed of two electrospinning polyurethane (PU) fiber films and a helical metal fiber. The helical metal fiber acts as a stable conductor with stretchability, and the PU fiber film with polydimethylsiloxane provides a self-adhesive substrate. Mechanical simulations and tests prove that the proposed interconnect can laminate conformally and unobtrusively onto human skin with excellent electrical stability (less than 0.5% electrical resistance change upon 100% elongation). Furthermore, based on the proposed interconnect, an all-in-one sensor-interconnect design is presented, which endows the epidermal electronic systems with anti-motion interference capability. A gesture identification wristband system realized by a single all-in-one strain sensor is demonstrated. Besides, a wireless on-skin system that accurately monitors dynamic 12-lead electrocardiographic is successfully built using all-in-one electrodes.