Wearable CNT/Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x)MXene/PDMS composite strain sensor with enhanced stability for real-time human healthcare monitoring

Strain sensors with good stability are vital to the development of wearable healthcare monitoring systems.However,the design of strain sensor with both duration stability and environmental stability is still a challenge.In this work,we propose an ultra-stable and washable strain sensor by embedding a coupled composite film of carbon nanotube(CNT)and Ti_(3)C_(2)T_(x) MXene into polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)matrix.The composite strain sensor with embedded microstructure and uneven surface makes it conformal to skin,while the CNT/MXene sensing layer exhibits a resistance sensitive to strain.This sensor shows reliable responses at different frequencies and with long-term cycling durability(over 1,000 cycles).Meanwhile,the CNT/MXene/PDMS composite strain sensor provides the advantages of superior anti-interference to temperature change and water washing.The results demonstrate less than 10%resistance changes as the temperature rises from-20 to 80℃or after sonication in water for 120 min,respectively.The composite sensor is applied to monitor human joint motions,such as bending of finger,wrist and elbow.Moreover,the simultaneous monitoring of the electrocardiogram(ECG)signal and joint movement while riding a sports bicycle is demonstrated,enabling the great potential of the as-fabricated sensor in real-time human healthcare monitoring.

Interlocked MXene/rGO aerogel with excellent mechanical stability for a health-monitoring device

Two-dimensional(2D)materials have attracted considerable interest thanks to their unique electronic/physical-chemical characteristics and their potential for use in a large variety of sensing applications.However,few-layered nanosheets tend to agglomerate owing to van der Waals forces,which obstruct internal nanoscale transport channels,resulting in low electrochemical activity and restricting their use for sensing purposes.Here,a hybrid MXene/rGO aerogel with a three-dimensional(3D)interlocked network was fabricated via a freeze-drying method.The porous MXene/rGO aerogel has a lightweight and hierarchical porous architecture,which can be compressed and expanded several times without breaking.Additionally,a flexible pressure sensor that uses the aerogel as the sensitive layer has a wide response range of approximately 0-40 kPa and a considerable response within this range,averaging approximately 61.49 kPa^(-1).The excellent sensing performance endows it with a broad range of applications,including human-computer interfaces and human health monitoring.

Multifunctional Flexible Humidity Sensor Systems Towards Noncontact Wearable Electronics

In the past decade,the global industry and research attentions on intelligent skin-like electronics have boosted their applications in diverse fields including human healthcare,Internet of Things,human–machine interfaces,artificial intelligence and soft robotics.Among them,flexible humidity sensors play a vital role in noncontact measurements relying on the unique property of rapid response to humidity change.This work presents an overview of recent advances in flexible humidity sensors using various active functional materials for contactless monitoring.Four categories of humidity sensors are highlighted based on resistive,capacitive,impedance-type and voltage-type working mechanisms.Furthermore,typical strategies including chemical doping,structural design and Joule heating are introduced to enhance the performance of humidity sensors.Drawing on the noncontact perception capability,human/plant healthcare management,human-machine interactions as well as integrated humidity sensor-based feedback systems are presented.The burgeoning innovations in this research field will benefit human society,especially during the COVID-19 epidemic,where cross-infection should be averted and contactless sensation is highly desired.

All‑Fiber Integrated Thermoelectrically Powered Physiological Monitoring Biosensor

Advanced fabric electronics for long-term personal physiological monitoring,with a self-sufficient energy source,high integrity,sensitivity,wearing comfort,and homogeneous components are urgently desired.Instead of assembling a self-powered biosensor,comprising a variety of materials with different levels of hardness,and supplementing with a booster or energy storage device,herein,an all-fiber integrated thermoelectrically powered physiological monitoring device(FPMD),is proposed and evaluated for production at an industrial scale.For the first time,an organic electrochemical transistor(OECT)biosensor is enabled by thermoelectric fabrics(TEFs)adaptively,sustainably and steadily without any additional accessories.Moreover,both the OECT and TEFs are constructed using a cotton/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfon ate)/dimethylsulfoxide/(3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane(PDG)yarn,which is lightweight,robust(90°bending for 1000 cycles)and sweat-resistant(ΔR/R0=1.9%).A small temperature gradient(ΔT=2.2 K)between the environment and the human body can drive the high-gain OECT(71.08 mS)with high fidelity,and a good signal to noise ratio.For practical applications,the on-body FPMD produced an enduring and steady output signal and demonstrated a linear monitoring region(sensitivity of 30.4 NCR(normalized current response)/dec,10 nM~50µM)for glucose in artificial sweat with reliable performance regarding anti-interference and reproducibility.This device can be expanded to the monitoring of various bio-markers and provides a new strategy for constructing wearable,comfortable,highly integrated and self-powered biosensors.

Do drones have a realistic place in a pandemic fight for delivering medical supplies in healthcare systems problems?

The advancement of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) technology in terms of industrial processes and communication and networking technologies has led to an increase in their use in civil, business, and social applications. Global rules in most countries had previously limited the use of drones to military applications due to their deployment in the open air, drones are likely to be lost, destroyed, or physically hijacked. However, more recently, the presence of COVID-19 has forced the world to present new implementing measures which will also widen the use of drones in civil and commercial and social applications, especially now in the delivery of medicines for medical home care. In the period of required public isolation as a consequence of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic, this knowledge has become one of the principal partners in the fight against the coronavirus. This paper offers a summary of the medical drone manufacturing, with a specific emphasis on its approval by the pharmaceutical sector to solve logistical problems in healthcare during times of sensitive need. We also discuss the numerous challenges to be met in the integration of drones to save our lives and suggest future research directions. The question that arises for this problem, how to optimize delivery medical supplies times in-home health care made up of drones? We conducted a synthesis literature review devoted to the use of UAVs in healthcare with their different aspects. A total of different research made are given to describe the role of UAV in Home healthcare with the presence of SARS-COV-2. We conclude that the drones will be able to optimize the way of eliminating contamination with a very high percentage(through the reduction of human contact) with the increase of the flexibility of the flight(reaching the less accessible regions every hour of the day).

Flexible bioelectronics for physiological signals sensing and disease treatment

Flexible bioelectronics,including wearable and implantable electronics,have revolutionized the way of human-machine interaction due to the fact that they can provide natural and seamless interactions with humans and keep stable and durable at strained states.As sensor elements or biomimetic actuators,flexible bioelectronics can dynamically sense and monitor physiological signals,reveal real-time physical health information and provide timely precise stimulations or treatments.Thus,the flexible bioelectronics are playing increasingly important roles in human-health monitoring and disease treatment,which will significantly change the future of healthcare as well as our relationships with electronics.This review summarizes recent major progress in the development of flexible substrates or encapsulation materials,sensors,circuits and energy-autonomous powers toward digital healthcare monitoring,emphasizing its role in biomedical applications in vivo and problems in practical applications.A future perspective into the challenges and opportunities in emerging flexible bioelectronics designs for the next-generation healthcare monitoring systems is also presented.

Comparison of fusion methods based on DST and DBN in human activity recognition

Ambient assistive living environments require sophisticated information fusion and reasoning techniques to accurately identify activities of a person under care. In this paper, we explain, compare and discuss the application of two powerful fusion methods, namely dynamic Bayesian networks (DBN) and Dempster-Shafer theory (DST), for human activity recognition. Both methods are described, the implementation of activity recognition based on these methods is explained, and model acquisition and composition are suggested. We also provide functional comparison of both methods as well as performance comparison based on the publicly available activity dataset. Our findings show that in performance and applicability, both DST and DBN are very similar; however, significant differences exist in the ways the models are obtained. DST being top-down and knowledge-based, differs significantly in qualitative terms, when compared with DBN, which is data-driven. These qualitative differences between DST and DBN should therefore dictate the selection of the appropriate model to use, given a particular activity recognition application.

Accurate expression of neck motion signal by piezoelectric sensor data analysis

The development of high-precision sensors using flexible piezoelectric materials has the advantages of high sensitivity,high stability,good durability,and lightweight.The main problem with sensing equipment is low sensitivity,which is due to the mismatch between materials and analysis methods,resulting in the inability to effectively eliminate noise.To address this issue,we developed the denoising analysis method to motion signals captured by a flexible piezoelectric sensor fabricated from poly(l-lactic acid)(PLLA)and polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)materials.Experimental results demonstrate that this improved denoising method effectively removes noise components from neck muscle motion signals,thus obtaining high-quality,low-noise motion signal waveforms.Wavelet decomposition and reconstruction is a signal processing technique that involves decomposing a signal into different scales and frequency components using wavelets and then selectively reconstructing the signal to emphasize specific features or eliminate noise.The study employed the sym8 wavelet basis for wavelet decomposition and reconstruction.In the denoised signals,a high degree of stability and periodic peaks are distinctly manifested,while amplitude and frequency differences among different types of movements also become noticeably visible.As a result of this study,we are enabled to accurately analyze subtle variations in neck muscle motion signals,such as nodding,shaking the head,neck lateral flexion,and neck circles.Through temporal and frequency domain analysis of denoised motion signals,differentiation among various motion states can be achieved.Overall,this improved analytical approach holds broad application prospects across various types of piezoelectric sensors,such as healthcare monitoring,sports biomechanics.