Next generation textile-based wearable sensing systems will require flexibility and strength to maintain capabilities over a wide range of deformations. However, current material sets used for textile-based skin contacting electrodes lack these key properties, which<br/>hinder applications such as electrophysiological sensing. In this work, we present a facile spray coating approach to integrate liquid metal nanoparticle systems into textile form factors for conformal, flexible and robust electrodes. The liquid metal system employs functionalized<br/>liquid metal nanoparticles that provide a simple “peel-off to activate” means of imparting conductivity. The spray coating approach combined with our functionalized liquid metal system enables the creation of long-term reusable textile-integrated liquid metal electrodes<br/>(TILEs). Although the TILEs are dry electrodes by nature, they show equal skin-electrode impedances and sensing capabilities with improved wearability compared to commercial wet electrodes. Biocompatibility of TILEs in an in-vivo skin environment was demonstrated, while providing improved sensing performance compared to previously reported textile-based dry electrodes. The “spray on dry - behave like wet” characteristics of TILEs opens opportunities for textile-based wearable health monitoring, haptics, and augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) applications that require the use of flexible and conformable dry electrodes.

Textile-integrated liquid metal electrodes (TILEs) for electrophysiological monitoring

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ACS Fall 2022

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