Researchers at MIT have developed an e-skin technology that contains artificial sweat ducts. The ducts prevent sweat accumulation underneath the e-skin, helping to prevent interference with built-in sensors. Incorporating a kirigami-style design, the material conforms to human skin but maintains a high porosity and reduced sweat accumulation. The design should help the e-skin to stay in place over extended periods, allowing incorporated sensors to monitor health over this time.

Wearable patches or ‘e-skin’ are a hot research area at present, with the ultimate of goal of unobtrusive health monitoring that does not require bulky and inconvenient monitoring devices. The technology is constantly evolving, and this latest device tackles a problem that all e-skin technology faces: sweat. Our skin is constantly producing moisture, and if it can’t escape through an e-skin patch, it will accumulate, potentially leading to sensor malfunction or detachment.

“Sweat can accumulate between the e-skin and your skin, which could cause skin damage and sensor malfunctioning,” said Jeehwan Kim, one of the developers of the new e-skin, in an MIT announcement. “So we tried to address these two problems at the same time, by allowing sweat to permeate through electronic skin.”

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By CONN HASTINGS – JULY 6TH, 2021