PFI-TT: Six-Lead, Wearable Heart Monitors Based on Multifunctional, Porous, Soft Materials

University Of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to enhance wearable heart monitors for improved cardiac health management. Heart diseases, the primary causes of deaths in the United States, result in nearly 655,000 fatalities annually and incur about $219 billion in healthcare costs each year. Ambulatory, real-time, long-term electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring using wearable devices outside of clinical environments is essential for the early detection and timely intervention of heart conditions. The market for wearable heart monitors is expected to grow from $1.95 billion in 2022 to $3.43 billion by 2027. However, current ambulatory wearable heart monitors usually provide single-lead ECG data and suffer from issues like limited long-term biocompatibility and motion-induced artifacts. These problems could lead to discomfort for patients, unreliable disease diagnosis, and increased workload for healthcare professionals due to the need for frequent adjustments or replacements of wearable devices. This project aims to develop six-lead wearable heart monitors using innovative, multifunctional, porous, soft materials to address the current limitations and improve the efficiency and reliability of heart condition monitoring. This solution will benefit patients, healthcare providers, and the medical community by enabling more effective early detection and management of heart conditions. The project focuses on the development of six-lead, wearable heart monitors with multifunctional, porous, soft materials, which combines ultra-softness, high breathability, antibacterial properties, strain-insensitive electrical performance, and thermal-responsive adhesion. Ultra-softness reduces skin irritation, while breathability prevents inflammation caused by sweat accumulation. The antibacterial feature safeguards against infections induced by pathogenic microbes, essential for home-based telemedicine applications. Strain-insensitive electrical performance and thermal-responsive adhesion can minimize motion-induced artifacts, enhancing the device’s reliability. Six-lead ECG recording offers a comprehensive view of cardiac status. The integration of these features can facilitate the development of innovative, wearable heart monitors with long-term biocompatibility and high fidelity for ambulatory and comprehensive assessment of heart health conditions in everyday scenarios. The four research tasks include: (1) the development of multifunctional, porous, soft materials with thermal-responsive adhesion, (2) the printing of six-lead ECG sensing electrodes onto multifunctional porous substrates, (3) the assembly of mobile cardiac monitoring systems, and (4) on-body device assessment on healthy human participants. Moreover, beyond heart monitors, this technique can be harnessed to build a range of customized wearable biomedical devices with long-term biocompatibility and long-lasting fidelity of bio-signal recording to satisfy a variety of home-based, precision healthcare needs. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.