Flexible Wiring to Make Garments Into Body Sensors Wearable devices for measuring various diagnostic parameters are becoming more common by the day, but researchers at University of Tokyo are looking forward to a time when the very clothes we wear are outfitted with interconnected sensors. Clothes already being close to our bodies are a natural platform for wearable sensors, but connecting a bunch of electronic components embedded within a pair of pants requires very flexible wiring. The Japanese team developed a new conductive ink that can be printed right onto clothes to create flexible and stretchable electric connections.The ink is made out of a solution of silver flakes, organic solvent, fluorine rubber, and fluorine surfactant, able to be stretched more than three times while maintaining conductivity. The researchers claim they™ve actually achieved the highest conductivity values compared to any previously created wiring approaching this kind of stretching.The team demonstrated the technology by creating an electromyograophy (EMG) sensor using the printed wiring that can stay on the wrist and detect muscle activity over an area 2.5 square inches (16 sq cm).Study in Nature Communications: Printable elastic conductors with a high conductivity for electronic textile applications¦Source: University of Tokyo¦