Piezoresistive fibrous materials for health monitoring

With the increased focus on health and personalized healthcare and the rising demand for convenient smart devices, fiber and textile-based sensors are becoming an emerging class of wearable devices and are potential platforms for the next generation products of functionality and comfort combining sensing and control. These fiber and textile platforms are lightweight and flexible, and can accommodate various deformations such as bending, twisting, and stretching. Among the various sensors used for health monitoring, fiber-based piezoresistive sensors have made tremendous advances over the decades, enabling users to capture real-time, continuous epidermal signals. This report will focus on piezoresistive fiber materials for health monitoring. The report will introduce the unique properties and advantages of piezoresistive fiber materials, including their low power consumption, good linearity, miniaturization of sensors, and suitability for large-scale production, and further explore the complex structural design approaches to achieve balanced performance in terms of sensitivity, repeatability, linearity, hysteresis, response/relaxation time, and operating voltage. The report will discuss the potential benefits of fibers in health monitoring products, including enhanced comfort, breathability, and durability, in the context of our recent progress in the use of piezoresistive fibers and fabric sensing. Finally, the report will mention the challenges and limitations of integrating these fibers into wearable devices, such as scalability, stability, and technical difficulties, and suggest future research directions to overcome existing barriers.