Flexible Thermoelectric Wearable Architecture for Wireless Continuous Physiological Monitoring
Maria Sattar, Yoon Jae Lee, Hyeonseok Kim, Michael J. Adams, Matthew Guess, Juhyeon Kim, Ira Soltis, Taewoog Kang, Hojoong Kim, Jimin Lee, Hodam Kim, Shannon K. Yee, Woon‐Hong Yeo
Abstract
Continuous monitoring of physiological signals from the human body is critical in health monitoring, disease diagnosis, and therapeutics. Despite the needs, the existing wearable medical devices rely on either bulky wired systems or battery-powered devices needing frequent recharging. Here, we introduce a wearable, self-powered, thermoelectric flexible system architecture for wireless portable monitoring of physiological signals without recharging batteries. This system harvests an exceptionally high open circuit voltage of 175-180 mV from the human body, powering the wireless wearable bioelectronics to detect electrophysiological signals on the skin continuously. The thermoelectric system shows long-term stability in performance for 7 days with stable power management. Integrating screen printing, laser micromachining, and soft packaging technologies enables a multilayered, soft, wearable device to be mounted on any body part. The demonstration of the self-sustainable wearable system for detecting electromyograms and electrocardiograms captures the potential of the platform technology to offer various opportunities for continuous monitoring of biosignals, remote health monitoring, and automated disease diagnosis.