Anisotropic conductive shape-memory aerogels as adaptive reprogrammable wearable electronics for accurate long-term pressure sensing

Abstract

Wearable flexible electronics with capacities of visual signal transduction, remote control, and timely feedback have been one of the promising candidates for future medical monitoring and personal health management, in which an accurate long-term extraction of physiological or physical signals is crucial. However, existing wearable electronics usually suffer from interface detachment, leading to inaccurate monitoring. Herein, we develop adaptive reprogrammable wearable electronics for pressure sensing based on an anisotropic conductive shape-memory aerogel that is fabricated by unidirectional cryopolymerization and freeze-drying. The prepared sensing electronics possess a unique three-dimensional (3D) layered honeycomb microstructure that has anisotropic compression properties, resulting in excellent pressure sensing performance in the radial direction with a fast response, notable sensitivity, long-term performance stability, and a wide detection range. Furthermore, with the assistance of reprogrammable shape-memory, the geometry of the sensing electronics can be tuned; moreover, the adaptive and long-term wearing of the sensing electronics at a detection location can be realized by either shape programming or self-fitting recovery. Therefore, this anisotropic conductive aerogel with shape-memory properties has high potential for the design of practical adaptive electronics for accurate long-term monitoring.