Self-powered ultrasensitive pulse sensors for noninvasive multi-indicators cardiovascular monitoring

Noninvasive cardiovascular monitoring via pulse sensor is highly desirable for diagnosis and prevention of cardiovascular diseases. However, long-term and multi-indicators cardiovascular monitoring through pulse sensor is still great challenge in practical application. Here, a self-powered ultrasensitive pulse sensor (SUPS) based on triboelectric nanogenerator is developed for noninvasive multi-indicators cardiovascular monitoring. Owning to the synergistic engineering of materials surface and device structure, the SUPS holds excellent sensing performances including the ultrasensitivity of 10.29 nA/kPa, fast response time of 30 ms, and low detection limit of 5 mg. The SUPS achieves the precise detection of pulse waves from varies arteries, and the detailed characteristic peaks in pulse waveforms can be distinguished clearly. Furthermore, a novel strategy for noninvasive multi-indicators cardiovascular monitoring is proposed through the integration of SUPSs distributed on different arterial pulse sites. Cardiovascular indicators including heart rate, pulse wave velocity, and blood pressure are monitored based on the peak position differences extracted from detected pulse waveforms, and all monitored indicators show highly consistency with the results from commercial medical instruments. The developed SUPS enables the noninvasive, long-term and accurate monitoring of cardiovascular system, which is expected to be applied in diagnosis and prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the future.