Unconventional electrodes for unobtrusive biopotentials monitoring: from wearable to more- than-wearable

The research of novel technologies for the unobtrusive detection of surface biopotentials is especially required in the rehabilitation and physical performance assessment of professional athletes. Smart garments equipped with textile electrodes are becoming popular. Still, recently tattoo electronics emerged as a way to bring unobtrusive recording electrodes closer to the body, providing special features such as optical transparency and breathability. This lecture is a dive in this fascinating world of wearable and more-than-wearable technologies for electrophysiological signal monitoring.

The healthcare landscape has dramatically changed during the last 10 years. The request for patient-centered solutions enabling the long-term monitoring of physiological parameters out of the clinical settings has rapidly grown. In this context, the research of novel technologies for the unobtrusive detection of surface biopotentials progressively gained interest for health monitoring, rehabilitation, and advanced physical performance assessment of professional athletes. Wearable electronics rapidly took over the field, and different textile electrodes embedded in smart garments started entering the consumer market, thanks to impressive advancements in the fabrication technology and novel materials. Riding the “wearable wave”, the tattoo electronics emerged as another way to bring unobtrusive recording electrodes even closer to the body. This innovative branch of electronics has been introduced in the early 2010s and allows fabricating high-performance electrodes with hitherto unavailable features such as imperceptibility, optical transparency, and breathability. These approaches offer completely new more-than-wearable possibilities, not only for the development of imperceptible systems but also to solve problems related to critical acquisition conditions.