IoT-Enabled Flexible Polymer Sensors for On-Body Health Monitoring and Real-Time Data Transmission

Year : 2025 | Volume : 13 | Special Issue 06 | Page : 188 200
    By

    Pankaj Mudholkar,

  • Megha Mudholkar,

  • Janardhan G,

  • N. Linga Reddy,

  • Guguloth Ravi,

  • V. Akilandeswari,

  1. Associate Professor, Department of Computer Engineering, Marwadi University, Rajkot, Gujarat, India
  2. Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Engineering, Marwadi University, Rajkot, Gujarat, India
  3. Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Vignan Institute of Technology and Science, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
  4. Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Vignan Institute of Technology and Science, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
  5. Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Malla Reddy College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
  6. Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Velammal College of Engineering and Technology, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract

Wearable health monitoring systems have grown increasingly vital in shifting care beyond clinical settings, yet many existing technologies remain hamstrung by rigid substrates and unreliable data streaming, impeding continuous and comfortable physiological assessment. Despite advances in flexible materials, most current sensor platforms suffer from limited mechanical endurance, signal instability under dynamic conditions, or an inability to sustain real-time wireless transmission. This work addresses those deficiencies by introducing a fully integrated, system-on-polymer sensor architecture engineered for robust, on-body health tracking. The proposed platform leverages a hybrid nanocomposite (CNT and polypyrrole in polyurethane) fabricated through scalable screen-printing, with embedded silver nanoparticle interconnects and a miniaturized BLE module directly mounted to the stretchable substrate. A tailored data pipeline incorporates adaptive sampling and on-device filtering, delivering continuous, artifact-resistant physiological signals to a mobile application interface. Experimental validation confirmed that the device maintained linear electromechanical response (gauge factor 9.4) through 10,000 strain cycles and held resistance drift below 5% across the full range of physiological temperatures. Real-time BLE data streaming exhibited low transmission latency (average 114 ms) and negligible packet loss (<1.2%), enabling uninterrupted operation over 36 hours. Comparative analysis revealed clear advantages in endurance and wireless stability relative to recent benchmarks. By coupling durable materials innovation with intelligent wireless design, this platform paves the way for next-generation wearable monitoring—capable of supporting decentralized, data-driven healthcare and expanding the boundaries of remote physiological assessment.

Keywords: Flexible polymer sensors, IoT, on-body monitoring, nanocomposites, real-time health tracking.

[This article belongs to Special Issue under section in Journal of Polymer & Composites (jopc)]

How to cite this article:
Pankaj Mudholkar, Megha Mudholkar, Janardhan G, N. Linga Reddy, Guguloth Ravi, V. Akilandeswari. IoT-Enabled Flexible Polymer Sensors for On-Body Health Monitoring and Real-Time Data Transmission. Journal of Polymer & Composites. 2025; 13(06):188-200.
How to cite this URL:
Pankaj Mudholkar, Megha Mudholkar, Janardhan G, N. Linga Reddy, Guguloth Ravi, V. Akilandeswari. IoT-Enabled Flexible Polymer Sensors for On-Body Health Monitoring and Real-Time Data Transmission. Journal of Polymer & Composites. 2025; 13(06):188-200. Available from: https://journals.stmjournals.com/jopc/article=2025/view=234005


References

  1. M. Ali, S. Noghanian, Z. U. Khan, S. Alzahrani, S. Alharbi, M. Alhartomi, and R. Alsulami, “Wearable and flexible sensor devices: Recent advances in designs, fabrication methods, and applications,” Sensors, vol. 25, no. 5, p. 1377, Feb. 2025, doi: 10.3390/s25051377.
  2. Wang, Z.; Yi, N.; Zheng, Z.; Zhou, J.; Zhou, P.; Zheng, C.; Chen, H.; Shen, G.; Weng, M. Self-powered and degradable humidity sensors based on silk nanofibers and its wearable and human–machine interaction applications. Chem. Eng. J. 2024, 497, 154443.
  3. Mohamadbeigi, N.; Shooshtari, L.; Fardindoost, S.; Vafaiee, M.; Zad, A.I.; Mohammadpour, R. Self-powered triboelectric nanogenerator sensor for detecting humidity level and monitoring ethanol variation in a simulated exhalation environment. Sci. Rep. 2024, 14, 1562.
  4. De, D.; Bharti, P.; Das, S.K.; Chellappan, S. Small Wearable Internet Multimodal Wearable Sensing for Fine-Grained Activity Recognition in Healthcare. 2015. Available online: https://www.computer.org/internet/ (accessed on 25 January 2024).
  5. Feng, J.; Ao, H.; Cao, P.; Yang, T.; Xing, B. Flexible tactile sensors with interlocking serrated structures based on stretchable multiwalled carbon nanotube/silver nanowire/silicone rubber composites. RSC Adv. 2024, 14, 13934–13943.
  6. Saeedi, R. Ansari, and M. Haghgoo, “Recent development in wearable sensors for healthcare applications,” Nano-Structures & Nano-Objects, vol. 42, p. 101473, May 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.nanoso.2025.101473.
  7. Liu, Z. Cai, Y. Ye, M. Zhou, H. Liao, and Y. Yi, “An overview of flexible sensors: Development, application, and challenges,” Sensors, vol. 23, p. 817, 2023, doi: 10.3390/s23020817.
  8. Hu, Z. Ma, F. Zhao, and S. Guo, “Recent advances in self-powered wearable flexible sensors for human gaits analysis,” Nanomaterials, vol. 14, p. 1173, 2024, doi: 10.3390/nano14071173.
  9. Gao, Z. Yang, J. Choi, C. Wang, G. Dai, and J. Yang, “Triboelectric nanogenerators for preventive health monitoring,” Nanomaterials, vol. 14, p. 336, 2024, doi: 10.3390/nano14020336.
  10. Chen, K. Lv, R. Zhao, Y. Lu, and P. Chen, “Flexible and stable GaN piezoelectric sensor for motion monitoring and fall warning,” Nanomaterials, vol. 14, p. 2044, 2024, doi: 10.3390/nano14092044.
  11. Duan, Y. Zhang, Y. Zhang, P. Zhu, and Y. Mao, “Recent advances of stretchable nanomaterial-based hydrogels for wearable sensors and electrophysiological signals monitoring,” Nanomaterials, vol. 14, p. 1398, 2024, doi: 10.3390/nano14071398.
  12. Qu et al., “Electric resistance of elastic strain sensors—Fundamental mechanisms and experimental validation,” Nanomaterials, vol. 13, p. 1813, 2023, doi: 10.3390/nano13101813.
  13. Tajitsu et al., “Application of braided piezoelectric poly-L-lactic acid cord sensor to sleep bruxism detection system with less physical or mental stress,” Micromachines, vol. 15, p. 86, 2023, doi: 10.3390/mi15010086.
  14. Zou et al., “Hybrid pressure sensor based on carbon nano-onions and hierarchical microstructures with synergistic enhancement mechanism for multi-parameter sleep monitoring,” Nanomaterials, vol. 13, p. 2692, 2023, doi: 10.3390/nano13152692.
  15. Cao et al., “Self-healable PEDOT:PSS-PVA nanocomposite hydrogel strain sensor for human motion monitoring,” Nanomaterials, vol. 13, p. 2465, 2023, doi: 10.3390/nano13132465.
  16. Cao, X. Xu, C. He, and Z. Peng, “Electrospun nanofibers hybrid wrinkled micropyramidal architectures for elastic self-powered tactile and motion sensors,” Nanomaterials, vol. 13, p. 1181, 2023, doi: 10.3390/nano13071181.
  17. Nikitina et al., “Laser-formed sensors with electrically conductive MWCNT networks for gesture recognition applications,” Micromachines, vol. 14, p. 1106, 2023, doi: 10.3390/mi14061106.
  18. Lee, J. Kim, M. T. Khine, and S. Kim, “Facile transfer of spray-coated ultrathin AgNWs composite onto the skin for electrophysiological sensors,” Nanomaterials, vol. 13, p. 2467, 2023, doi: 10.3390/nano13132467.
  19. Ying et al., “A flexible piezocapacitive pressure sensor with microsphere-array electrodes,” Nanomaterials, vol. 13, p. 1702, 2023, doi: 10.3390/nano13091702.
  20. Lu et al., “Emerging roles of microrobots for enhancing the sensitivity of biosensors,” Nanomaterials, vol. 13, p. 2902, 2023, doi: 10.3390/nano13162902.
  21. Liu, X. Liu, and Y. Yang, “Flexible piezoresistive sensors from polydimethylsiloxane films with ridge-like surface structures,” Micromachines, vol. 14, p. 1940, 2023, doi: 10.3390/mi14091940.
  22. Liu and H. Liu, “Research on flexible sensors for wearable devices: A review,” Nanomaterials, vol. 15, no. 7, p. 520, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.3390/nano15070520.
  23. Trafton, A. MIT engineers develop sensors for face masks that help gauge fit. MIT News|Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 20 October 2022. Available online: https://news.mit.edu/2022/sensors-face-masks-fit-1020?utm_source=chatgpt.com (accessed on 1 March 2024).
  24. Y. Alghamdi, “A novel deep learning method for predicting athletes’ health using wearable sensors and recurrent neural networks,” Discover Artificial Intelligence, vol. 3, no. 1, p. 100213, 2023, doi: 10.1016/j.dajour.2023.100213.
  25. Zheng, F.; Jiang, H.-Y.; Yang, X.-T.; Guo, J.-H.; Sun, L.; Guo, Y.-Y.; Xu, H.; Yao, M.-S. Reviews of wearable healthcare systems based on flexible gas sensors. Chem. Eng. J. 2024, 490, 151874.
  26. Hasson, A.M.; Patel, R.D.; Sissoko, C.A.; Brattain, L.; Dion, G.R. 3D-printed neck phantoms with detailed anatomy for ultrasound-guided procedure and device testing. Laryngoscope Investig. Otolaryngol. 2024, 9, e1309.
  27. Yang, J.; Liu, Y.; Morgan, P.L. Human–machine interaction towards Industry 5.0: Human-centric smart manufacturing. Digit. Eng. 2024, 2, 100013.
  28. Bai, Y.; Meng, H.; Li, Z.; Wang, Z.L. Degradable piezoelectric biomaterials for medical applications. MedMat 2024, 1, 40–49.
Special Issue Subscription Original Research
Volume 13
Special Issue 06
Received 12/07/2025
Accepted 01/08/2025
Published 14/08/2025
Publication Time 33 Days
87

Login


My IP

PlumX Metrics