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Flexible Printed Sensors for Ubiquitous Human Monitoring

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Sensors for Everyday Life

Part of the book series: Smart Sensors, Measurement and Instrumentation ((SSMI,volume 22))

Abstract

The flexible printed sensors based on nanomaterials available currently have numerous challenges attached to it. The formation of nanocomposite for the electrodes is an issue mainly regarding the solubility of the conducting material. Mostly, the electrodes are not highly conductive in the flexible sensors fabricated due to the non-uniform distribution of conductive material in the polymer. The process of introducing conductive material as electrodes needs manual processing and thus becomes expensive. The sensitivity of the flexible sensor saturates with time due to the constant bending leading to deformation marks on the substrate material. This also leads to uneven surface and eventually inappropriate reading of the sensor. It is difficult to decrease the inter-electrode distance due to the spreading of the conductive ink in the printed sensors. There are many drawbacks to the current method of fabrication of flexible printed sensor. This research follows a novel approach to developing a sensor via the fabrication and characterization of a flexible, strain sensitive patch which would be used for bio-medical applications. Based on the laser-ablation technology, some prototype sensors have been designed and fabricated. It shows the experimental results obtained from the developed sensor on the detection of limb movements. The sensors would also be explored for other novel applications in future.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

    Anindya Nag & Jǘrgen Kosel

  2. Department of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia

    Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay

Authors
  1. Anindya Nag
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  2. Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay
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  3. Jǘrgen Kosel
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Telecomunicações and ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal

    Octavian Adrian Postolache

  2. Department of Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay

  3. Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

    Krishanthi P. Jayasundera

  4. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Akshya K. Swain

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Nag, A., Mukhopadhyay, S.C., Kosel, J. (2017). Flexible Printed Sensors for Ubiquitous Human Monitoring. In: Postolache, O., Mukhopadhyay, S., Jayasundera, K., Swain, A. (eds) Sensors for Everyday Life. Smart Sensors, Measurement and Instrumentation, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47319-2_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47319-2_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-47318-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-47319-2

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