Flexible And Stretchable Medical Devices

The book introduces flexible and stretchable wearable electronic systems and covers in detail the technologies and materials required for healthcare and medical applications. A team of excellent authors gives an overview of currently available flexible devices and thoroughly describes their physical mechanisms that enable sensing human conditions. In dedicated chapters, crucial components needed to realize flexible and wearable devices are discussed which include transistors and sensors and deal with memory, data handling and display. Additionally, suitable power sources based on photovoltaics, thermoelectric energy and supercapacitors are reviewed. A special chapter treats implantable flexible sensors for neural recording. The book editor concludes with a perspective on this rapidly developing field which is expected to have a great impact on healthcare in the 21st century.

This book highlights recent advances in soft and stretchable biointegrated electronics. A renowned group of authors address key ideas in the materials, processes, mechanics, and devices of soft and stretchable electronics; the wearable electronics systems; and bioinspired and implantable biomedical electronics. Among the topics discussed are liquid metals, stretchable and flexible energy sources, skin-like devices, in vitro neural recording, and more. Special focus is given to recent advances in extremely soft and stretchable bio-inspired electronics with real-world clinical studies that validate the technology. Foundational theoretical and experimental aspects are also covered in relation to the design and application of these biointegrated electronics systems. This is an ideal book for researchers, engineers, and industry professionals involved in developing healthcare devices, medical tools and related instruments relevant to various clinical practices.

The book introduces flexible and stretchable wearable electronic systems and covers in detail the technologies and materials required for healthcare and medical applications. A team of excellent authors gives an overview of currently available flexible devices and thoroughly describes their physical mechanisms that enable sensing human conditions. In dedicated chapters, crucial components needed to realize flexible and wearable devices are discussed which include transistors and sensors and deal with memory, data handling and display. Additionally, suitable power sources based on photovoltaics, thermoelectric energy and supercapacitors are reviewed. A special chapter treats implantable flexible sensors for neural recording. The book editor concludes with a perspective on this rapidly developing field which is expected to have a great impact on healthcare in the 21st century.

Remarkable progress has been achieved within recent years in developing flexible, wearable, and stretchable (FWS) electronics. These electronics will play an increasingly significant role in the future of electronics and will open new product paradigms that conventional semiconductors are not capable of. This is because flexible electronics will allow us to build flexible circuits and devices on a substrate that can be bent, stretched, or folded without losing functionality. This revolutionary change will impact how we interact with the world around us. Future electronic devices will use flexible electronics as part of ambient intelligence and ubiquitous computing for many different applications such as consumer electronics, medical, healthcare, and security devices. Thus, these devices have the potential to create a huge market all over the world. Flexible, Wearable, and Stretchable Electronics, provide a comprehensive technological review of the state-of-the-art developments in FWS electronics. This book offers the reader a taste of what is possible with FWS electronics and describes how these electronics can provide unique solutions for a wide variety of applications. Furthermore, the book introduces and explains new applications of flexible technology that has opened up the future of FWS electronics.

The book starts with the fundamentals of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), and continues through to fabrication technologies to achieve flexible and stretchable. Then self-powered flexible microsystems are introduced and application examples are presented, including TENG-based active sensors, TENG-powered actuators, artificial intelligence and integrated systems.

The field of flexible electronics has grown rapidly over the last two decades with diverse applications including wearable gadgets and medical equipment. This textbook comprehensively covers the fundamental aspects of flexible electronics along with materials and processing techniques. It discusses topics including flexural rigidity, flexible PCBs, organic semiconductors, nanostructured materials, material reliability, electronic reliability, crystalline and polymer materials, semiconductor processing, and flexible silicon in depth. The text covers advantages, disadvantages, and applications of processes such as sol-gel processing and ink-jet printing. Pedagogical features such as solved problems and unsolved exercises are interspersed throughout the text for better understanding. FEATURES Covers major areas such as materials, physics, processes, and applications of flexible electronics Contains homework problems for readers to understand concepts in an easy manner Discusses, in detail, various types of materials, such as flexible silicon, metal oxides, and organic semiconductors Explains the application of flexible electronics in displays, solar cells, and batteries Includes a section on stretchable electronics This textbook is primarily written for senior undergraduate and graduate students in electrical engineering, electronics, materials science, chemistry, and communication engineering for a course on flexible electronics. Teaching resources are available, including a solutions manual for instructors.

Soft material-enabled electronics offer distinct advantage, over conventional rigid and bulky devices, for numerous wearable and implantable applications. Soft materials allow for seamless integration with skin and tissues due to enhanced mechanical flexibility and stretchability. Wearable devices, such as sensors, offer continuous, real-time monitoring of biosignals and movements, which can be applied in rehabilitation and diagnostics, among other applications. Soft implantable electronics offer similar functionalities, but with improved compatibility with human tissues. Biodegradable soft implantable electronics are also being developed for transient monitoring, such as in the weeks following surgery. To further advance soft electronics, materials, integration strategies, and fabrication techniques are being developed. This paper reviews recent progress in these areas, toward the development of soft material-enabled electronics for medicine, healthcare, and human-machine interfaces.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Flexible and Stretchable Electronics" that was published in Micromachines