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Credit: Wangqing Zhang
Scientists at Pennsylvania State University have developed a new ink that can be painted on the skin in a variety of patterns, turning into electrodes for biomonitoring after drying. They explained their work in a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Like it has already been saidepidermal electronics built into the skin through temporary artwork (e-tattoos) have been around for over a decade. The so-called e-tattoos connect to the skin without adhesives, are undetectable, and are usually attached to the tattoo temporarily, allowing electrical measurements (and other measurements, such as temperature and stress) using very thin polymers with circular elements.
However, these e-tattoos have their limitations, mainly because they do not work well on curved and/or hairy surfaces, and they also require the electrodes to be customized to cover large areas, because the biosignals are distributed around. Therefore, scientists have begun to develop. For example, in 2024researchers have developed a special polymer-based ink that can be printed on the scalp to measure brain waves, even with hair. This could one day enable mobile EEG monitoring outside of the hospital, among other possible uses.
