Adding a New Sensing Dimension to Soft Electronics: From the Skin to Below the Skin

Abstract: Soft electronic devices that can noninvasively and continuously acquire vital signs from the human body represent an important trend for healthcare. Combined strategies of materials design and advanced microfabrication allow the integration of a variety of components and devices on a soft platform, resulting in functional systems with minimal constraints on the human body. In this presentation, I will demonstrate a wearable multichannel patch that can sense a collection of signals from the human skin in a wireless mode. Additionally, integrating high-performance ultrasonic transducers on the stretchable substrate adds a new third dimension to the detection range of conventional soft electronics. Ultrasound waves can penetrate the skin and noninvasively capture dynamic events in deep tissues, such as blood pressure and blood flow waveforms in central arteries and veins. This soft platform holds profound implications for a wide range of applications in consumer electronics, sports medicine, defense, and clinical practices.

Bio: Dr. Xu is currently an assistant professor at UC San Diego. He received his B.S. in Chemistry and Molecular Engineering from Peking University and Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He did his postdoctoral studies in stretchable electronics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His group is interested in developing soft wearable electronics for health monitoring and human-machine interfaces. His research has been presented to the Congressmen and Congresswomen as testimony of NIH extramural research during a Congressional Hearing. He has been recognized by many awards, including NIH NIGMS Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award, NIH NIBIB Trailblazer Award, Wellcome Trust Innovator Award, 3M Nontenured Faculty Award, Nokia Bell Labs Prize, MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35, SPIE DCS Rising Researchers, IEEE Sensor Council Early Career Technical Achievement Award, and MRS Outstanding Young Investigator Award (one of the 33 recipients of this award since its inception in 1991). He is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences and a Frontier of Engineering of the National Academy of Engineering. He serves Nano Research as a Young Star Editor.

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