An advanced technique for flexible and squeezy soft sensors

Following past difficulties to implement electrical components into squeezy and flexible force sensitive materials, to collect and distribute data composed by a sensor, Imperial College London (ICL) researchers have developed a brand-new technique which consists of bonding the two together. The innovative method, which has been published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, functions by creating a chemical bond between the material and little fragments of metal glazed silicone. The silicone allows electrical components to be soldered onto it through its plated and pitted copper side, and on the other side of the silicone, its smooth, which allows it to bond with the rubber.

The researchers have proven that their technique can resist the strains of tearing and stretching , through multiple tests conducted on prototype sensors that could be used in healthcare and rehabilitation including, a flexible ball, a leg band and a wearable breathing monitor.

Michael Kasimatis, Lead author of ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, from the Department of Bioengineering at Imperal, stated: “We hope this method will allow us to make low cost soft sensors that are reliable and portable that can be used to monitor people’s health in their own homes. Such sensors could be coupled with a mobile device, such as a smartphone so that the data they generate can be easily processed and stored on the cloud, which is important for applications in digital healthcare.”

Dr Firat Güder, Lead researcher, from the Department of Bioengineering at Imperial, stated: “Having successfully demonstrated how this new bonding approach could work and be applied in laboratory prototypes, we now want to take this technology out of the lab and make it available to everyone.”