Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, have developed a cost-effective, gel-based wearable device that is capable of recording motion signals that can have healthcare applications.
The organohydrogel sensor is placed on patients in a comatose state through a wireless device and a smartphone can monitor subtle movements over an extended period, PTI reported.
This provides healthcare professionals with invaluable insights into a patient's condition and appropriate interventions can be taken.
Debapratim Das of the Chemistry Department at IIT Guwahati said that flexible and wearable electronics play a pivotal role in augmenting human capabilities, serving functions like artificial skin and prosthetics to assist human movements or integrating with clothing and the body in areas like bioelectronics, wearable sensors, energy-storage devices and stretchable optoelectronic devices.
“However, the current gel technologies exhibit limitations in mechanical properties, lacking ultra-stretchability and self-healing abilities. Additionally, they often lose sensitivity in extreme temperature conditions," he added.
The findings of the study have been published in the prestigious ACS Applied Material and Interfaces journal.
The co-authors include Ritvika Kushwaha, Mouradeep Dey, Kanika Gupta and Biman B Mandal, added PTI.
"During our practical wearable sensing tests, the sensor showed high sensitivity to detect major human joint motions such as elbow, finger and wrist bending as well as micro-motions such as muscle movement around the throat during swallowing and expressions such as smiling and frowning," said Biman B Mandal of the Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering at IIT Guwahati.
Furthermore, the researchers fabricated a device that was connected through a smartphone via Bluetooth where signals were recorded upon deformation of the smart gel, which shows that the gel holds great promise as a wearable device.
