Hyeon Jun Sim

Significant progress in healthcare fields around the world has inspired us to develop a wearable strain–temperature sensor that can monitor biomedical signals in daily life. This novel self-powered temperature–strain dual-parameter sensor comprises a mechano-electrochemical harvester (MEH) and a thermally responsive artificial muscle (TAM). The MEHTAM system generates electricity from strain and thermal fluctuations. In addition, the sensor is comfortable to wear, owing to its stretchability (>100%), softness (<3 MPa), and one-dimensional fibers (diameter 230 μm). The MEH induces a change in the electrochemical capacitance, resulting in an electrical signal under applied strain (34 μA/m) and stress (20 μA/(m·MPa)). The TAM can be used as a mechanical temperature sensor, because the tensile stroke responds linearly to changes in temperature. As the harvester and artificial muscle are combined, the MEHTAM system generates electricity, owing to external and internal mechanical stimuli caused by muscle contractions as a response to temperature changes. The MEHTAM system that we have developed—a self-powered, strain–temperature dual-parameter sensor that is soft, stretchable, and fiber-shaped—is an interesting candidate for the production of comfortable, wearable, dual-parameter sensors.

The human monitoring system has motivated the search for new technology, leading to the development of a self-powered strain sensor. We report on the stretchable and soft stretchy electrochemical harvester (SECH) bilayer for a binarized self-powered strain gauge in dynamic and static motion. The active surface area participating in the electrochemical reaction was enhanced after stretching the SECH in the electrolyte, leading to an increase in the electrochemical double-layer capacitance. A change in the capacitance induced a change in the electrical potential of the bilayer, generating electrical energy. The SECH overcomes several challenges of the previous mechano-electrochemical harvester: The harvester had high elasticity (50%), which satisfied the required strain during human motion. The harvester was highly soft (modulus of 5.8 MPa), 103 times lower than that of the previous harvester. The SECH can be applied to a self-powered strain gauge, capable of measuring stationary deformation and low-speed motion. The SECH created a system to examine the configuration of the human body, as demonstrated by the human monitoring sensor from five independent SECH assembled on the hand. Furthermore, the sensing information was simplified through the binarized signal. It can be used to assess the hand configuration for hand signals and sign language.