Flexible Mesostructured Capacitive Pressure Sensor for Blood Pressure Monitoring

Abstract

Flexible pressure sensors have been extensively studied for the development of wearable healthcare technologies, specifically in cardiovascular monitoring. Herein, we have reported a mesoscale-featured capacitive pressure sensor for monitoring blood pressure and pulse rate. The sensor is fabricated using a silicone elastomer by sandwiching in the flexible electrodes to make a skin-attachable wearable device. The sensor shows a high sensitivity of 1.33 kPa ⁻¹ in the ultra-low pressure range, a low detection limit of 0.1 Pa pressure, and a fast response and recovery time of 40 ms as well. The sensor detects the human oscillometric waveform and measures blood pressure (BP) and pulse rate (PR) with reasonable accuracy. The static and dynamic performance of the developed sensors suggests their application as blood pressure and pulse rate monitoring devices.