Date of Award
7-23-2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Type
Dissertation
Abstract
Soft electronics are emerging as a revolutionary platform, signifying a pivotal shift from performance-centric priorities to human-centered principles that emphasize accessibility, sustainability, and user experience. As conventional electronics technology approaches its performance ceiling, further improvements in performance metrics have slowed, prompting consumers to place greater importance on user experience and eco-friendliness. Compared to traditional rigid electronics, soft electronics offer the potential to seamlessly integrate biological systems with soft electronic frameworks. Motivated by these demands, this dissertation has been dedicated to bridging fundamental material studies, advanced manufacturing, novel electronic devices, system-level integrations, and practical applications. This interdisciplinary endeavor aims to establish soft electronics as the nexus of energy, healthcare, and human-machine interactions, focusing on the following two realms: Intrinsically Flexible/Stretchable Perovskite Optoelectronic Devices: This research advances sustainable processing for the emerging photoelectric semiconductor, perovskite, through innovative device architectures and cutting-edge manufacturing strategies. These advancements enable the fabrication of various flexible and stretchable optoelectronic devices, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photodetectors (PDs). A fully inkjet-printed fabrication pipeline for perovskite LEDs (PeLEDs) has been developed for high-speed fabrication on elastomer substrates such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Additionally, a versatile and eco-friendly fabrication methodology, termed handwriting, has been innovated to enable multicolor LEDs and PDs to be "drawn" on various substrates, including paper, textiles, plastics, elastomers, rubber, and 3D objects. This innovation potentially expands the scope of perovskite optoelectronics to broader applications such as electronic textiles (E-textiles), electronic paper (E-paper), smart packaging, and other disposable electronics and wearables. System-Level Wearable Electronics for Digital Health: Traditional bulky and costly medical equipment poses a substantial barrier to achieving accessible and equitable healthcare, exacerbating disparities in healthcare provision. To address this challenge, cost-effective and skin-interfaced E-textiles featuring 3D microfiber electrodes have been developed to reduce electrode-skin impedance and improve immunity to motion artifacts. Equipped with custom-designed circuitry, these system-level E-textiles can be integrated into a variety of smart garments for exercise physiology and health monitoring applications. Real-time multimodal electrophysiological signal monitoring, including electrocardiogram (ECG) and electromyography (EMG), has been successfully conducted during strenuous exercise and even watersports. The multi-channel E-textile has been implemented in clinical patient studies for real-time monitoring of maternal ECG and uterine EMG, incorporating spatial-temporal potential mapping capabilities. This advancement paves the way for remote digital healthcare, offering valuable insights into women's health and prenatal care.
Language
English (en)
Chair
Chuan Wang