Recent developments in materials engineering and device architectures form the foundations for rapidly emerging classes of sensors and energy devices with mechanical characteristics that allow for conformal interfaces with the soft, curvilinear surfaces of the human body. Despite these advances, major challenges in these fields exist: wearable chemical sensors typically require complex, battery-powered electronics while the vast majority of demonstrated tissue-mounted energy storage and energy harvesting systems rely on toxic components that substantially diminish their attractiveness in bio-related applications. In this presentation I will discuss non-traditional approaches to address some of these grand challenges. I will demonstrate how seamless integration of advances in electrochemistry, soft materials, fluid mechanics, wireless electronics, and design engineering are crucial for realizing such advanced systems. Examples will include wearable sweat sensors, wound monitors, wearable and implantable biodegradable batteries.
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