Interfacial Phenomena of Advanced Composite Materials toward Wearable Platforms for Biological and Environmental Monitoring Sensors, Armor, and Soft Robotics

Abstract

Abstract With haptic and pressure sensor manufacturing in the US totaling $US 1.6 billion in annual revenue—with 2% annual projected growth from 2018 to 2023—and tactical and service clothing manufacturing in the US totaling $US 242.9 million in annual revenue, the potential of advanced wearables continues to grow. As many fields tend toward miniaturized technologies in the modern age, many recent developments have been made for wearable platforms. Within the broad area of wearable platforms, there are many specific applications to consider, such as motion sensing, biomarker detection, monitoring of environmental pollutants, haptic sensors, enhanced soft robotics, and improving the safeguarding capabilities of armor. For these applications, the interfacial phenomena occurring between the continuous and discrete phases within the composite material are responsible for the device's response and bulk properties. Understanding these phenomena at the composite interfaces of the system allows for finer tuning of morphological, electromechanical, and other bulk properties, as well as the optimization of the wearable's output—in terms of the applications targeted. Control over these advanced composite materials is paramount in personalized health‐care systems, advanced defense technologies, commercial wearables. Recent advances on composite interfaces for wearable platforms are discussed, along with trends and an outlook of the field.