Graphene-Based Wireless Tube-Shaped Pressure Sensor for In Vivo Blood Pressure Monitoring

Micromachines (Basel). 2019 Feb 20;10(2):139. doi: 10.3390/mi10020139.

Abstract

We propose a wireless pressure sensor composed of a graphene sheet and a transmitter coil integrated with a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) tube. The pressure inside the tube was monitored wirelessly using an external receiver coil. We then monitored the typical blood pressure range, 12⁻20 kPa, using this fabricated sensor by changing the turn number of the receiver coil and the overlapping length of the coils. Furthermore, we demonstrated wireless blood pressure measurement by connecting our sensor to the blood vessel of a rat. Our results suggested that this sensor can be easily inserted between an implantable medical device and blood vessels for in vivo blood pressure monitoring. The proposed wireless pressure sensor could also be suitable for monitoring in vivo implanted medical systems, such as artificial organs and pump systems.

Keywords: graphene; implantable device; pressure sensor; tube; wireless.