Home-Made, Self-Powered, Skin-Attachable Sensing Platform for Diverse Vital Sign Monitoring

Wearableelectronic sensors that can perform real-time, continuous,and high-fidelity monitoring of diverse biophysical signals from thehuman body are burgeoning and exhibit great potential to transformtraditional clinical healthcare. However, such emerging devices oftensuffer from strict requirements of special precursor materials andsophisticated fabrication procedures. Here, we present a new paradigmof a self-powered, skin-attachable, and multifunctional sensing platformthat can be fully created just at home with daily necessities. Itsoperating mechanism is based on mechanical/thermal regulation of thepotential difference output of a primary electrochemical cell. Thisproposed sensing platform is totally self-powered and can be conformallyattached to the skin for continuous monitoring of both mechanicaland thermal stimulations. A wide spectrum of vital physiological signsof the human body, including body temperature, heart/pulse rate, respiratoryrate, coughing, and body motions, can be continuously monitored andanalyzed with this home-made sensing platform. This study demonstratesthat the lab-conducted professional and expensive scientific researchcan also be accomplished at home, opening up new opportunities forhome-centered healthcare in low-resource environments. Moreover, thiswork can serve as a handy and cost-efficient prototype for classroomeducation and clinical training purposes.