Smart Materials for Wearable Healthcare Devices

Wearable devices seem to have great potential that could result in a revolutionary non-clinical approach to health monitoring and diagnosing disease. With continued innovation and intensive attention to the materials and fabrication technologies, development of these healthcare devices is progressively encouraged. This chapter gives a concise review of some of the main concepts and approaches related to recent advances and developments in the scope of wearable devices from the perspective of emerging materials. A complementary section of the review linking these advanced materials with wearable device technologies is particularly specified. Some of the strong and weak points in development of each wearable material/device are clearly highlighted and criticized

The era of nano-bionic: 2D materials for wearable and implantable body sensors

Nano-bionics have the potential of revolutionizing modern medicine. Among nano-bionic devices, body sensors allow to monitor in real-time the health of patients, to achieve personalized medicine, and even to restore or enhance human functions. The advent of two-dimensional (2D) materials is facilitating the manufacturing of miniaturized and ultrathin bioelectronics, that can be easily integrated in the human body. Their unique electronic properties allow to efficiently transduce physical and chemical stimuli into electric current. Their flexibility and nanometric thickness facilitate the adaption and adhesion to human body. The low opacity permits to obtain transparent devices. The good cellular adhesion and reduced cytotoxicity are advantageous for the integration of the devices in vivo. Herein we review the latest and more significant examples of 2D material-based sensors for health monitoring, describing their architectures, sensing mechanisms, advantages and, as well, the challenges and drawbacks that hampers their translation into commercial clinical devices