Imperceptible liquid metal based tattoo for Human-Machine interface on hairy skin

Abstract

Biopotential signals recorded by skin surface electrodes reflect the state of the body and corresponding organ functions. These signals are commonly utilized in clinical diagnosis, health monitoring, sports training, and human–computer interaction. However, the utilization of conventional electrodes on hairy skin causes a number of issues, including suboptimal skin compliance, obstructed sweat secretion and impaired tactile perception, making it difficult to obtain long-term and high-fidelity biopotential recordings. Here, we propose an imperceptible spray-on electrode tattoo (SE-tattoo) with sweat-permeability, high adhesiveness, high conductivity, and fast curing ability (<20 s). The water-based conductive ink is sprayed directly on the hairy skin to form a conformable conductive tattoo that neither affects nor is affected by the skin hair. We demonstrate it for heart health monitoring, sports training, electro-tactile display and close-loop teleoperation control. The SE-tattoo offers a reliable and versatile solution to biopotential recordings and serves as a promising platform for bidirectional human–machine interaction.One-Sentence Summary: Imperceptible sweat-permeable SE-tattoo enables high-fidelity biopotential recordings for bidirectional human–machine interaction.