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upstart writes:

Folding design leads to heart sensor with smaller profile:

As advances in wearable devices push the amount of information they can provide consumers, sensors increasingly have to conform to the contours of the body. One approach applies the principles of kirigami to give sensors the added flexibility.

Researchers want to leverage the centuries-old art of cutting paper into designs to develop a sensor sheet that can stretch and breathe with the skin while collecting electrocardiographic data. In Applied Physics Reviews, the sensor made by researchers in Japan uses cuts in a film made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) printed with silver electrodes to fit on a person's chest to monitor his or her heart.

"In terms of wearability, by applying kirigami structure in a PET film, due to PET deformation and bending, the film can be stretchable, so that the film can follow skin and body movement like a bandage," said author Kuniharu Takei, from Osaka Prefecture University. "In addition, since kirigami structure has physical holes in a PET film, skin can be easily breathed through the holes."

Unlike the related origami, which involves strictly paper folding, the art of kirigami extends its methods to paper cutting as well. Such a technique allows relatively stiff materials, like PET, to adapt to their surfaces.

Journal Reference:
Yan Xuan, Hyuga Hara, Satoko Honda, et al. Wireless, minimized, stretchable, and breathable electrocardiogram sensor system, Applied Physics Reviews (DOI: 10.1063/5.0082863)

Original Submission