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Flexible and stretchable antennas are important for wireless communication using wearable and implantable devices to address mechanical mismatch at the tissue-device interface. Emerging technologies of liquid-metal-based stretchable electronics are promising approaches to improve the flexibility and stretchability of conventional metal-based antennas. However, existing methods to encapsulate liquid metals require monolithically thick (at least 100 µm) substrates, and the resulting devices are limited in deformability and tissue-adhesiveness. To overcome this limitation, fabrication of microchannels by direct ink writing on a 7 µm-thick elastomeric substrate is demonstrated, to obtain liquid metal microfluidic antennas with unprecedented deformability. The fabricated wireless light-emitting device is powered by a standard near-field-communication system (13.56 MHz, 1 W) and retained a consistent operation under deformations including stretching (>200% uniaxial strain), twisting (180° twist), and bending (3.0 mm radius of curvature) while maintaining a high quality factor (q > 20). Suture-free conformal adhesion of the polydopamine-coated device to ex vivo animal tissues under mechanical deformations is also demonstrated. This technology offers a new capability for the design and fabrication of wireless biomedical devices requiring conformable tissue-device integration toward minimally invasive, imperceptible medical treatments.
Yamagishi et al. (Tue,) studied this question.