Thin, soft, skin-like sensors capable of precise, continuous measurements of physiological health have broad potential relevance to clinical health care. Use of sensors distributed over a wide area for full-body, spatiotemporal mapping of physiological processes would be a considerable advance for this field. We introduce materials, device designs, wireless power delivery and communication strategies, and overall system architectures for skin-like, battery-free sensors of temperature and pressure that can be used across the entire body. Combined experimental and theoretical investigations of the sensor operation and the modes for wireless addressing define the key features of these systems. Studies with human subjects in clinical sleep laboratories and in adjustable hospital beds demonstrate functionality of the sensors, with potential implications for monitoring of circadian cycles and mitigating risks for pressure-induced skin ulcers.
S.H. and D.K. were supported by the new faculty research fund of Ajou University and the Ajou university research fund. Y.M., Z.X., and X.F. acknowledge the support from the National Basic Research Program of China (grant no. 2015CB351900) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 11402135, 11402134, and 11320101001). Y.H. and J.A.R. acknowledge the support from the NSF (grant nos. DMR-1121262, CMMI-1300846, CMMI-1400169, and CMMI-1534120) and the NIH (grant no. R01EB019337). D.K. was supported by Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science, Information and Communications Technologies and Future Planning (2016R1C1B1009689). J.K. acknowledges the support from the Research Grant of Kwangwoon University in 2017.
