Wearable sensors have found growing applications in disease monitoring, diagnosis and treatment, precision medicine, and health management. Wearable devices show up in different forms such as smart watches, smart band aids, wound dressings, and provide information about physiological processes in our body. Smartwatches are a successful example of a wearable technology that have had significant impact on management of public health. These watches primarily monitor the pulse, and body movements, but do not provide any information on chemical biomarkers in the body. Adding chemical sensing to the function of smartwatches offers new possibilities for the management of public health. Our group is working in this area.
Our group is also interested in integrating sensing components in textiles and yarn, to create function and sensing modalities in everyday tools. What’s special about yarn?
It is inexpensive, widely accessible, and disposable by incineration. It has excellent mechanical strength both in dry and wet states. It can be easily patterned into hydrophobic and hydrophilic zones and can transport fluids through capillary wicking with no need for an external pump. It can be manipulated using high-volume manufacturing techniques such as weaving and knitting.