Chapter 13 - Graphene-Based Portable, Flexible, and Wearable Sensing Platforms: An Emerging Trend for Health Care and Biomedical Surveillance

Abstract

Internet of things (IOT) has received considerable interest over the past decade as markets recognize the true potential of real-time data acquisition for various applications in entertainment, defense, environmental, and health-care field. Health care or medical applications of IOT are very crucial for the routine monitoring of physiologically relevant parameters. A number of flexible and portable environmentally friendly chip sensors are being reported as IOT, and they are driving us toward the next-generation world with complete digitalization, which will consume less time and possibly be less harmful for us. Nowadays, the name of graphene has emerged as an innovation in the field of sensing device fabrication with their outstanding properties. Graphene can be integrated into various flexible and stretchable electronic devices in a conventional, scalable fashion. The advantageous mechanical, electric, and optical properties of graphene and their integration with these IOT techniques will lead to a highly efficient, sophisticated, and cost-effective device for the real-time applications in electronics, energy-harvesting devices, sensors, and other systems. Recent research progress on graphene-based flexible and stretchable electronics and advantages of these next-generation devices with their significant advancement from the past few years with a special emphasis on the advancement in wearable graphene-based bioelectronics as sensing and energy devices is discussed in this book chapter. At first, the designing and fabrication steps used for making the devices are discussed. Afterward, the flexible, portable, stretchable, and wearable electronic devices enabled by graphene are summarized including chip-based or patch-based sensors, logic devices, and bioinspired or health-care devices. The chapter has been concluded by summarizing the challenges present in the field of graphene-based electronics and their potential solution, to improve their role in the area of flexible and stretchable electronics.