Epidermal photonic devices for quantitative imaging of temperature and thermal transport characteristics of the skin

Li Gao, Yihui Zhang, Viktor Malyarchuk, Lin Jia, Kyung-In Jang, R Chad Webb, Haoran Fu, Yan Shi, Guoyan Zhou, Luke Shi, Deesha Shah, Xian Huang, Baoxing Xu, Cunjiang Yu, Yonggang Huang and John A. Rogers ()
Additional contact information
Li Gao: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Yihui Zhang: Center for Engineering and Health, Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University
Viktor Malyarchuk: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Lin Jia: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Kyung-In Jang: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
R Chad Webb: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Haoran Fu: Center for Engineering and Health, Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University
Yan Shi: Center for Engineering and Health, Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University
Guoyan Zhou: Center for Engineering and Health, Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University
Luke Shi: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Deesha Shah: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Xian Huang: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Baoxing Xu: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Cunjiang Yu: University of Houston
Yonggang Huang: Center for Engineering and Health, Skin Disease Research Center, Northwestern University
John A. Rogers: Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory, Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Characterization of temperature and thermal transport properties of the skin can yield important information of relevance to both clinical medicine and basic research in skin physiology. Here we introduce an ultrathin, compliant skin-like, or ‘epidermal’, photonic device that combines colorimetric temperature indicators with wireless stretchable electronics for thermal measurements when softly laminated on the skin surface. The sensors exploit thermochromic liquid crystals patterned into large-scale, pixelated arrays on thin elastomeric substrates; the electronics provide means for controlled, local heating by radio frequency signals. Algorithms for extracting patterns of colour recorded from these devices with a digital camera and computational tools for relating the results to underlying thermal processes near the skin surface lend quantitative value to the resulting data. Application examples include non-invasive spatial mapping of skin temperature with milli-Kelvin precision (±50 mK) and sub-millimetre spatial resolution. Demonstrations in reactive hyperaemia assessments of blood flow and hydration analysis establish relevance to cardiovascular health and skin care, respectively.

Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms5938 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:5:y:2014:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms5938

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5938

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().