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An ultrathin organic–inorganic integrated device for optical biomarker monitoring

Nature Electronics volume 7, pages 914–923 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Organic electrochemical transistors can be used in wearable sensors to amplify biological signals. Other wireless communication systems are required for applications in continuous health monitoring. However, conventional wireless communication circuits, which are based on inorganic integrated chips, face limitations in terms of conformability due to the thick and rigid integrated circuit chips. Here, we report an ultrathin organic–inorganic device for wireless optical monitoring of biomarkers, such as glucose in sweat and glucose, lactate and pH in phosphate-buffered saline. The conformable system integrates an organic electrochemical transistor and a near-infrared inorganic micro-light-emitting diode on a thin parylene substrate. The device has an overall thickness of 4 μm. The channel current of the transistor changes according to the biomarker concentration, which alters the irradiance from the light-emitting diode to enable biomarker monitoring. We combine the device with an elastomeric battery circuit to create a wearable patch. We also show that the system can be used for near-infrared image analysis.

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Fig. 1: Wireless optical biomarker monitoring system.
Fig. 2: Electrical and optical characterization of the OECT and μLED integrated device.
Fig. 3: Mechanical stability of the OECT and μLED integrated device.
Fig. 4: Biomarker analysis by the wireless optical monitoring system.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Jang (Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials) for advising on the μLED fabrication process. This research was supported by a Korea Institute of Science and Technology project (Grant Nos. 2V09233 to W.L. and J.-H.H., 2E32981 to W.L., 2E33141 to W.L., 2E33150 to W.L. and H.J., 2E32242 to J.-H.H. and 2E33122 to H.J.). This research was supported by the Nano Material Technology Development Program (Grant No. 2021M3H4A1A04092879) through the National Research Foundation of Korea funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (W.L.). This research was also supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation funded by the Ministry of Science & ICT (Grant No. 2022M3E5E9016506 to W.L.), a grant from the Institute of Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation funded by the Korea government through the Ministry of Science and ICT (Grant No. 2022-0-00208, Infrared long-range multi-devices wireless charging technology, to J.-H.H.), a National Research Foundation of Korea grant funded by the Korean government through the Ministry of Science and ICT (Grant Nos. RS-2023-00302145 to H.J. and 2021R1A2B5B03001691 to S.H.K.), the Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology Program of Korea University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (H.J.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biomaterials Research Center, Biomedical Research Division, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Kyung Yeun Kim, Joohyuk Kang, Sangmin Song, Kyungwoo Lee, Suk-Won Hwang, Hojeong Jeon & Wonryung Lee

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Kyung Yeun Kim, Sangmin Song & Seung Hwan Ko

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Joohyuk Kang

  4. KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Suk-Won Hwang & Hojeong Jeon

  5. Center for Quantum Technology, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Jae-Hoon Han

  6. Sensor System Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Wonryung Lee

  7. Division of Bio-Medical Science & Technology, University of Science & Technology (UST), Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Wonryung Lee

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Contributions

K.Y.K. and W.L. designed the project and experiments. K.Y.K. and J.K. developed the biochemical sensor. K.Y.K. and S.S. fabricated the elastomeric battery circuit. K.Y.K., J.-H.H. and W.L. fabricated the μLED and integrated devices. K.L. and H.J. helped with using the glucose assay kit and with data analysis. S.-W.H., S.H.K. and H.J. helped in the data analysis. K.Y.K. and W.L. wrote the manuscript, and all authors revised it. J.-H.H. and W.L. supervised the project.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hojeong Jeon, Jae-Hoon Han or Wonryung Lee.

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Nature Electronics thanks Juliane Sempionatto, Tailin Xu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Kim, K.Y., Kang, J., Song, S. et al. An ultrathin organic–inorganic integrated device for optical biomarker monitoring. Nat Electron 7, 914–923 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01237-6

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