Flexible and wearable health monitoring device based on novel carbon nanorod (CNR) material

• Main Author: Mandeep Singh Mehay
• Other Authors: Liu Zheng
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/69952
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The use of carbon based nanomaterials have been prevalent over the past decade with many reports and research published postulating their use in various systems, applications and fields. This report introduces a novel carbon based nanomaterial coined as carbon nanorod (CNR). The CNR arrays were synthesized using the Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) method. The work done in this report seeks to address the research gap and present a simple, cost-effective and efficacious solution to the current state of wearable remote health monitoring in the form of a flexible device. The report will cover the synthesis and characterization of the CNR material, the fabrication of the CNR based device as well as the performance evaluation and testing of the device. The neoteric structure of the material enables it to be highly flexible as well as bestowing it with exceptional sensitivity and stability. This was exhibited when it was bent over 10000 cycles. The device was tested in both high and low frequency (<6Hz) applications. It was found that the device was well suited for wearable health monitoring applications and it performed well in detecting wrist pulse rate, Parkinsonian tremors and respiration rate. The device’s low power consumption and easy processing technique grants it with a huge potential in this field. This report will also briefly introduce and highlight the use of devices based on 3D graphene synthesized using the APCVD method in the same field of wearable health and motion monitoring systems. The device was tested in measuring respiration rate using a novel technique of detecting the movements the biceps brachii muscle. The device was also tested in detecting muscle vibrations during exercises. As such, the findings from the device testing shows potential for this device in the field of sports performance analysis as well. All in all, the developments and findings obtained and made in this report points to the promise of success for these devices in the field of wearable and remote healthcare and monitoring systems and there is faith that these devices will contribute to all the past achievements attained in these field of research going forward. However, to achieve that, more work and tests will need to be done to further optimize the features and use in applications of these devices.