Medical News Observer

Researchers from Washington State University have developed a way to create the serpentine structures that power wearable electronics using screen printing, the same technology used to print rock concert t-shirts. The method creates a stretchable, durable circuit pattern that can be transferred to fabric and worn directly on human skin.

Current commercial manufacturing of wearable electronics requires expensive processes involving clean rooms, while this new method relies wholly on screen printing, which has advantages for manufacturers and consumers.

The study, published in the ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces journal, details the electrode screen-printing process and demonstrates how the resulting electrodes can be used for medical devices such as electrocardiogram monitoring.

Citation: Sehyun Park, Seunghyeb Ban, Nathan Zavanelli, Andrew E. Bunn, Shinjae Kwon, Hyo-ryoung Lim, Woon-Hong Yeo, and Jong-Hoon KimACS; Fully Screen-Printed PI/PEG Blends Enabled Patternable Electrodes for Scalable Manufacturing of Skin-Conformal, Stretchable, Wearable Electronics; Applied Materials & Interfaces 2023 15 (1), 2092-2103DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c17653