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A Soft Stretchable Sensor: Towards Peripheral Nerve Signal Sensing

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Abstract

We propose a 3D-printable soft, stretchable, and transparent hydrogel-elastomer device that is able to detect simulated ‘nerve’ signals. The signal is passed to a conductive hydrogel electrode through a non-contact method of capacitive coupling through polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). We demonstrate that the device is able to detect sinusoidal waveforms passed through a simulated ‘nerve’ made from conductive hydrogel over a range of frequencies (1 kHz – 1 MHz). Analysis of signal detection showed a correlation to the electrode contact area and a Vin/Vout of larger than 10%. This provides the framework for the future development of a soft, 3D-printable, capacitive coupling device that can be used as a cuff electrode for detecting peripheral nerve signals.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Soft Materials Group, School of Chemistry, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Charles Hamilton & Marc in het Panhuis

  2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, AIIM Facility, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Charles Hamilton, Gursel Alici, Geoffrey M. Spinks & Marc in het Panhuis

  3. Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 08854, U.S.A.

    Charles Hamilton

  4. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, U.S.A.

    Kevin Tian, Jinhye Bae, Canhui Yang, Zhigang Suo & Joost J. Vlassak

  5. State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, International Center for Applied Mechanics, School of Aerospace, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Canhui Yang

  6. School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic, and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia

    Gursel Alici & Geoffrey M. Spinks

  7. Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, U.S.A.

    Zhigang Suo

Authors
  1. Charles Hamilton
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  2. Kevin Tian
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  3. Jinhye Bae
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  4. Canhui Yang
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  5. Gursel Alici
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  6. Geoffrey M. Spinks
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  7. Zhigang Suo
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  8. Joost J. Vlassak
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  9. Marc in het Panhuis
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Hamilton, C., Tian, K., Bae, J. et al. A Soft Stretchable Sensor: Towards Peripheral Nerve Signal Sensing. MRS Advances 3, 1597–1602 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2018.220

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/adv.2018.220

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