Development of A Microfluidic Based Stretchable Sensor

Wearable sensors for human activity monitoring, the key component for industry 4.0, have been receiving extensive research attention. Conventional wearable devices are made of rigid material which is not stretchable and non-conformal to human skin. This work develops a stretchable microfluidic-based sensor using Euthetic Gallium-Indium as the conductive medium. Silicone elastomer (Ecoflex 00-50) was used as the device structure with the embedded spiral-patterned microchannel, created using scaffold-sacrificial method. The fabricated sensor was tested for its strain, air pressure, and force sensing. A nonlinear resistance outputs were measured for the strain and air pressure sensing whereas a linear output was observed in the force sensing with a sensitivity of 0.0244 Ω per N. The proof of concept of the microfluidic based sensor show its potential in future wearable medical device.