A Korean research team has developed electrodes that can be used in wearable devices attached to the body to collect data.
POSTECH said on the 17th that a research team led by Professor Lim Geun-bae of the Department of Mechanical Engineering with Dr. Lee Jung-ho and Dr. Yoon Ga-eun, and Professors Park Sung-min and Kim Cheol-hong, has developed "dermal bioelectrodes."
Dermal bioelectrodes can stably measure biosignals without being affected by external environments while minimizing pain and inflammation.
The team noted that wearable devices such as smartwatches have taken hold as everyday health management tools, but they carry structural limitations.
"Epidermal electrodes," which stick to the skin surface, are easy to use, but their signals easily become unstable due to sweat, dryness, or movement.
"Microneedle electrodes," which are inserted into the skin, offer high signal accuracy but, due to their rigid structure, can cause tissue irritation and inflammatory responses.
In response, the team focused on the principle that the same material can have completely different properties depending on its structure—just as aluminum is used for rigid structures like airplanes and also as thin foil commonly used in kitchens.
As a result, through ultra-small precision machining of an extremely flexible biomaterial and a design that converts it into a foaming structure, they created dermal bioelectrodes.
When inserted into the stratum corneum, the electrode passes through in a needle-like rigid state and, upon reaching the dermis, transforms on its own into a soft structure.
In experiments on animal models and humans, the team confirmed that even during long-term insertion, there was little to no tissue damage or immune rejection.
Electrodes that settled stably in the dermis were not affected by external environmental changes, maintaining signal accuracy reliably even with sweat, dehydration, or prolonged wear conditions.
The findings were published recently as a cover article in the international journal in biomaterials, "Advanced Materials."
Professor Lim Geun-bae, who led the research, said, "This technology can be expanded not only to medical diagnostic devices but also to next-generation 'physical AI' technology that precisely collects biometric data and combines it with artificial intelligence (AI)."