3D E-textile for Exercise Physiology and Clinical Maternal Health Monitoring

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cost-effective 3D microfiber-based E-textile system with waterproofing and motion artifact cancellation, enabling reliable real-time health monitoring during various physical activities and clinical maternal health assessments.

Contribution

The study presents a novel 3D microfiber E-textile with enhanced signal quality, waterproofing, and integrated motion artifact cancellation, suitable for diverse health monitoring applications.

Findings

Successful real-time ECG and EMG monitoring during strenuous activities.

Effective waterproofing without compromising electrical conductivity.

Clinical application in maternal health monitoring with spatial-temporal mapping.

Abstract

Electronic textiles (E-textiles) offer great wearing comfort and unobtrusiveness, thus holding potential for next-generation health monitoring wearables. However, the practical implementation is hampered by challenges associated with poor signal quality, substantial motion artifacts, durability for long-term usage, and non-ideal user experience. Here, we report a cost-effective E-textile system that features 3D microfiber-based electrodes for greatly increasing the surface area. The soft and fluffy conductive microfibers disperse freely and securely adhere to the skin, achieving a low impedance at the electrode-skin interface even in the absence of gel. A superhydrophobic fluorinated self-assembled monolayer was deposited on the E-textile surface to render it waterproof while retaining the electrical conductivity. Equipped with a custom-designed motion-artifact canceling wireless data recording circuit, the E-textile system could 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), was successfully carried out during strenuous cycling and even underwater swimming activities. Furthermore, a multi-channel E-textile was developed and implemented in clinical patient studies for simultaneous real-time monitoring of maternal ECG and uterine EMG signals, incorporating spatial-temporal potential mapping capabilities.