A skin-like stretchable colorimetric temperature sensor

Abstract

Wearable and stretchable physical sensors that can conformally contact on the surface of organs or skin provide a new opportunity for human-activity monitoring and personal healthcare. Particularly, various attempts have been made in exploiting wearable and conformal sensors for thermal characterization of human skin. In this respect, skin-mounted thermochromic films show great capabilities in body temperature sensing. Thermochromic temperature sensors are attractive because of their easy signal analysis and optical recording, such as color transition and fluorescence emission change upon thermal stimuli. Here, desirable mechanical properties that match epidermis are obtained by physical crosslinking of polydiacetylene (PDA) and transparent elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) networks. The resulting PDA film displayed thermochromic and thermofluorescent transition temperature in the range of 25–85°C, with stretchability up to 300% and a skin-like Young’s modulus of ~230 kPa. This easy signal-handling provides excellent references for further design of convenient noninvasive sensing systems.