Researchers have embedded new low-cost sensors that monitor breathing, heart rate, and ammonia into t-shirts and facemasks.
- Potential applications of the new research range from monitoring exercise, sleep, and stress to diagnosing and monitoring disease through breath and vital signs.
- The research was carried out at Imperial College London. The research has been published in Materials Today.
- This study was funded by the Saudi Ministry of Education, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, part of the UKRI), Cytiva, Imperial's Department of Bioengineering, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the US Army.
The cotton-based thread: Spun from a new Imperial-developed cotton-based conductive thread called Pecotex, the sensors cost little to manufacture.
Just $0.15 produces a metre of thread to seamlessly integrate more than ten sensors into clothing, and Pecotex is compatible with industry-standard computerised embroidery machines.
- The researchers embroidered the sensors into a facemask to monitor breathing, a t-shirt to monitor heart activity, and textiles to monitor gases like ammonia, a component of the breath that can be used to track liver and kidney function.
- The ammonia sensors were developed to test whether gas sensors could also be manufactured using embroidery.
Seamless sensors: Wearable sensors, like those on smartwatches, let us continuously monitor our health and wellbeing non-invasively.
- Until now, however, there has been a lack of suitable conductive threads, which explains why wearable sensors seamlessly integrated into in clothing aren't yet widely available.
- Developed and spun into sensors, Pecotex is machine washable, and is less breakable and more electrically conductive than commercially available silver-based conductive threads, meaning more layers can be added to create complex types of sensors.
- Next, the researchers will explore new application areas like energy storage, energy harvesting and biochemical sensing, as well as finding partners for commercialisation.
What they said:
Pecotex is high-performing, strong, and adaptable to different needs. It's readily scalable, meaning we can produce large volumes inexpensively using both domestic and industrial computerised embroidery machines. Our research opens up exciting possibilities for wearable sensors in everyday clothing. By monitoring breathing, heart rate, and gases, they can already be seamlessly integrated, and might even be able to help diagnose and monitor treatments of disease in the future.
— Dr Firat Guder
Faculty of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering
Imperial College London
