Research

Desarrollo de equipo portátil de medida abdominal no invasiva de registros electrocardiográficos fetales

Preclinical study of wearable electronic system for non-invasive maternal and featal electrocardiogram monitoring.

PREVENTION: PRinting flExible Versatile Electronics to moNitor our healTh and wellbeIng in lONg-term

Wellbeing is a top priority in our society. However maintaining a good healthcare system is becoming more challenging in our ever increasing ageing demography. Many care solutions are available in the market to track our daily life, at home or outside, and to provide assistance to the users in case of emergency. However, there are still many gaps to fill before coming up with an integrated solution that results truly attractive and reliable to final users.

PREVENTION will create a ground-breaking technology of ultralow-powered, flexible, and smart sensing systems based on customised and innovative user-friendly devices for continuous monitorization of biomedical physical signals and detection of relevant biomarkers. The measurements will be done directly and unobtrusively from the human skin, enabling the early detection of the most prevalent diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases and cancer. To succeed on those objectives, PREVENTION will develop a proof-of-concept of a longterm healthcare-oriented wearable autonomous sensing platform based on flexible electronics. To realise such systems, printed sensors and biosensors will be developed and integrated on the same substrate. Signal processing strategies will be developed to maximise the information extracted from the data collected by the electrodes and sensors, which together with data assessment for early detection and predictability of disease, will provide a clinically acceptable solution.

HEATERSMOF: Heat enabled advanced thermogeneration based on Metal-Organic Frameworks 

HeaterMOFs aims to build flexible through-plane devices via 3D printing combined with 2D printing techniques used for thin-film electronics. In brief, three of the main challenges in printed/flexible autonomous sensor technology are:

•  improved semiconductor materials working at lower temperatures;

• 3D conformation, where the hot and cold surfaces are parallel to each other, and

• highly stable and efficient printed substrates to act as electrodes

Heat Enabled Avant-garde Thermogeneration, Energy Retrieval and Storage

Independence from a battery paradigm requires innovative and breakthrough energy harvesting methods and systems that take advantage of widespread energy sources being the most pervasive one, the residual thermal energy. In particular, heat is a ubiquitous source of energy, not only from the omnipresent solar radiation, but heat is also a side product of many human activities and technologies. This energy is largely wasted and up to now this has been a lost opportunity for many energy demanding applications that require independent and wearable power sources.

HEATERS proposal envisions a radically new technology for both thermoelectric (TE) energy harvesting and storage, that is capable of being integrated in all surrounding objects and devices, taking their shape by means of its printability which is its main advantage for an intensive and extensive harvesting of an all-around but low density energy source such as waste heat. The technology is supported by a disruptive approach combining the synergistic use of Ionic Thermoelectric Supercapacitors (ITESC), and Thermoelectric Generators (TEG) to develop an avant-garde solution for energy harvesting.

The transformative effects of this radically new technology in the long term will be the eradication of battery use in a wide range of applications (such as wearable health systems; environment monitoring; distribution chain; pandemic prediction and monitoring), reducing the dependence of the Spain on raw materials that are not locally available and that are at the heart of any of the existing or envisioned battery technology. This frees technological stakeholders from possible geopoliticalturbulence when they design and develop their technological solutions for the Spanish economy and society.

RENEWABLE: Radio frEquency eNergy harvEsting WearABLE 

This project will develop a new technology for the production of low-cost, energy-independent flexible circuits using RF power. The potential of this technology will be demonstrated through a prototype of an implantable or wearable flexible temperature acquisition system (IoT node). The manufacturing technology used will be based on the combination of different techniques for the implementation of flexible circuits: traditional techniques (inkjet printing, screen printing and spray coating) will be combined with other emerging ones based on the nanostructuring of organic materials by laser. The energy-autonomous IoT node will use an RF energy harvesting system for its power supply, together with an energy rectification, adaptation and storage system for use in the sensor application. In each of the subsystems, the use of the appropriate flexible technology will be assessed, studied and implemented in terms of the necessary electrical performance (i.e. high conductivity in the antenna, high capacity in the condenser, flexibility in interconnections...).

SELFSENS: Printed SELF-power platform for gas SENSing monitoring

The final aim of this project is to develop an autonomous gas sensor system capable of discriminating among different vapor species. Looking at the attractive characteristics of reduced graphene oxide, we should look for their functionalization in order to increase their selectivity to a concrete gas while decreasing it to others. Furthermore, the design of sensor arrays together with pattern recognition algorithms will be investigated in order to develop a highly selective sensory device towards different gas molecules. Moreover, the whole manufacturing of these sensors will be done by printing and laser scribing techniques because of the large amount of characteristics that this technology offers to electronics circuits (e.g. large-scale fabrication, lightweight, flexibility). In addition to this, the sensing layer should be recovered in order to have a fast response of the sensor to force the trapped molecules to escape. This issue will be also addressed compromising time response and power demand. In this project, we propose the inclusion of energy harvesting approach together with a storage element in order to reduce this consumption or even to achieve a self-powered sensory system. A key point of this strategy will be to employ the same fabrication processes as the used for the manufacturing of the gas sensors. Finally, the whole system will be to include it in a larger system, adding the required circuitry and communication module with the aim of performing environmental monitoring in different scenarios such as industry or building comfort. For example, the inclusion of a gas sensing platform can control and adjust the proper work environment conditions. This solution can not only enhance the quality of working conditions but also to reduce cost and pollution, being profitable for employers, employees and society.