Bonding
Rubber and
Electrical Components for
Soft Medical Sensors
Researchers at Imperial College London have developed a way to create a tight bond between
Rubber and
Electrical components. The method could pave the way for a variety of
Soft Sensors for
Medical applications. For instance, such
Sensors could provide a signal when squeezed or stretched, with potential in monitoring patient rehabilitation after hand injury, or functioning as respiration monitors by providing data on the expansion and contraction of the chest.
One of the major difficulties in developing such devices to date has been integrating
Electrical Components smoothly and securely in
Soft substrates, such as rubber. This group of researchers has come up with a new approach to this problem. Their technique results in an incredibly strong bond between
Rubber and
Electrical components, and when tested to failure, the
Rubber itself will break before the bond will.
Previous attempts to bind
Rubber and plastic have involved adhesives or clamps, which either came apart under force, or damaged the
Soft material. This new approach involves metal-coated silicon that can chemically bond to the rubber, but that also features copper plates to which
Electrical components, such as wires, can be attached through soldering.
The new material has enormous potential in wearable healthcare sensors. “We hope this method will allow us to make low-cost
Soft Sensors that are reliable and portable, that can be used to monitor people’s health in their own homes,” said Michael Kasimatis, a researcher involved in the study. “Such
Sensors could be coupled with a mobile device, such as a smartphone, so that the data they generate can be easily processed and stored on the cloud, which is important for applications in digital healthcare.”
So far, the researchers have made some prototype sensors, including a squeezable ball to monitor progress in hand rehabilitation, and a stretchy band that goes around the chest and monitors breathing. “Having successfully demonstrated how this new
Bonding approach could work and be applied in laboratory prototypes, we now want to take this technology out of the lab and make it available to everyone,” said Firat Güder, another researcher involved in the study.
See a video about the new techonlogy below:
Study in
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces:
Monolithic Solder-On Nanoporous Si-Cu Contacts for Stretchable Silicone Composite Sensors
Via:
Imperial College London
