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. 2021 Sep 30;15(3):2616–2625. doi: 10.1007/s12274-021-3831-z

Flexible, anti-damage, and non-contact sensing electronic skin implanted with MWCNT to block public pathogens contact infection

Duan-Chao Wang 1, Hou-Yong Yu 1,2,✉, Lurong Jiang 2, Dongming Qi 1, Xinxing Zhang 3,✉, Lumin Chen 1, Wentao Lv 2, Weiqiang Xu 1, Kam Chiu Tam 4
PMCID: PMC8482958  PMID: 34608406

Abstract

If a person comes into contact with pathogens on public facilities, there is a threat of contact (skin/wound) infections. More urgently, there are also reports about COVID-19 coronavirus contact infection, which once again reminds that contact infection is a very easily overlooked disease exposure route. Herein, we propose an innovative implantation strategy to fabricate a multi-walled carbon nanotube/polyvinyl alcohol (MWCNT/PVA, MCP) interpenetrating interface to achieve flexibility, anti-damage, and non-contact sensing electronic skin (E-skin). Interestingly, the MCP E-skin had a fascinating non-contact sensing function, which can respond to the finger approaching 0–20 mm through the spatial weak field. This non-contact sensing can be applied urgently to human-machine interactions in public facilities to block pathogen. The scratches of the fruit knife did not damage the MCP E-skin, and can resist chemical corrosion after hydrophobic treatment. In addition, the MCP E-skin was developed to real-time monitor the respiratory and cough for exercise detection and disease diagnosis. Notably, the MCP E-skin has great potential for emergency applications in times of infectious disease pandemics.

graphic file with name 12274_2021_3831_Fig1_HTML.jpg

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material (fabrication of MCP E-skin, laser confocal tomography, parameter optimization, mechanical property characterization, finite element simulation, sensing mechanism, signal processing) is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s12274-021-3831-z.

Keywords: prevent contact infection, anti-damage sensors, non-contact sensing, respiratory sensing, human-machine interaction

Electronic Supplementary Material

12274_2021_3831_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (1.1MB, pdf)

Flexible, anti-damage, and non-contact sensing electronic skin implanted with MWCNT to block public pathogens contact infection

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Supplementary material, approximately 3.22 MB.

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Supplementary material, approximately 4.43 MB.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Key Foundation of China (No. LZ20E030003), National Science Foundation of China (No. 51673121), Candidates of Young and Middle Aged Academic Leader of Zhejiang Province, the Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (No. 2018QNRC001), and Excellent Doctoral Thesis Cultivation Fund (No. 2019D01).

Contributor Information

Hou-Yong Yu, Email: phdyu@zstu.edu.cn.

Xinxing Zhang, Email: xxzwwh@scu.edu.cn.

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Supplementary Materials

12274_2021_3831_MOESM1_ESM.pdf (1.1MB, pdf)

Flexible, anti-damage, and non-contact sensing electronic skin implanted with MWCNT to block public pathogens contact infection

Download video file (3.2MB, mp4)

Supplementary material, approximately 3.22 MB.

Download video file (4.4MB, mp4)

Supplementary material, approximately 4.43 MB.

Download video file (1.1MB, mp4)

Supplementary material, approximately 1.08 MB.

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