A Highly Breathable and Uniformly Temperature-Controlling Patch with Biomimetic Structure for Wearable Electronics

This paper presents a highly breathable skin temperature control patch designed for wearable electronics applications. The patch features a unique structure that mimics human sweat pores to enhance skin breathability. It consists of a breathable substrate, a temperature heater, and a high-performance temperature sensing array. Inspired by the structure of human skin pores, the patch innovatively incorporates numerous small pores into a polyimide (PI) substrate. These sweat pore-like structures effectively reduce perspiration buildup caused by PI adhesion to the skin, significantly improving the breathability of flexible devices. The heater, made of silver ink, ensures uniform heat distribution through the “sweat pore” structure. Additionally, the temperature sensing array is fabricated by utilizing the thermosensitive properties of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT: PSS), in combination with graphene and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA). This enables precise monitoring of temperature distribution on the skin's surface. This skin temperature control patch holds potential for use in a range of wearable electronic applications, including transdermal extraction and transdermal drug delivery systems.