Why printed electronics for medical devices?
Medical devices that touch the skin or sit inside equipment need to be thin, soft, lightweight, and safe. Conventional rigid electronics are often too bulky, too stiff, or require too many external safety components for direct patient contact. Printed electronics solves this by depositing functional circuits onto flexible, biocompatible substrates like TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) that are inherently skin-friendly.
For heating applications, PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) inks provide an additional layer of safety. PTC heaters automatically cut off at a set temperature without any external controller, making them inherently safe for applications where overheating could cause patient harm. No software failures, no sensor malfunctions, no controller dependency. The safety is in the material itself.
Biosensors and patient monitoring
Batteryless NFC biosensors
Developed in collaboration with St. Johns Research Institute, our batteryless on-skin NFC sensors are designed for neonatal monitoring. Built on skin-friendly TPU, these sensors harvest energy from a smartphone's NFC signal, eliminating the need for a battery. This makes them cost-effective and sustainable for deployment in rural and resource-constrained healthcare settings. The sensors were displayed at MEDICA 2025 at Henkel's Wearable Technologies booth.
Dry ECG electrodes
Traditional ECG monitoring requires wet gel electrodes that cause skin irritation during extended wear and degrade over time. Our dry ECG electrodes are printed using Ag, Ag/AgCl, and carbon inks on biocompatible TPU. They make direct skin contact without gel, enabling comfortable long-term cardiac monitoring. Suitable for ambulatory ECG, Holter monitoring, and wearable cardiac health devices.
Dry EEG electrodes
EEG monitoring traditionally requires conductive gel applied to each electrode site on the scalp, making it time-consuming to set up and uncomfortable for patients. Our printed dry EEG electrodes use Ag/AgCl and carbon on flexible TPU substrates, conforming to the scalp without gel preparation. This enables faster setup, improved patient comfort, and the potential for continuous at-home brain monitoring.
Stimulation electrodes
Printed stimulation electrodes for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), neuromuscular stimulation (NMES), and other electrotherapy applications. Printed with Ag, Ag/AgCl, and carbon on biocompatible TPU, these electrodes are thin, flexible, and conformable to body contours. Available on request.
Medical heating applications
Blood and IV fluid warming
Infusing cold blood products or IV fluids can cause hypothermia and cardiac complications in patients. Printed PTC heaters for blood and IV fluid warming wrap around tubing or fluid bags to bring fluids to body temperature before infusion. The self-regulating PTC behaviour ensures fluids never overheat, eliminating the risk of thermal damage to blood cells or proteins. No external thermostat needed.
Surgical patient warming
Maintaining normothermia during surgery reduces complications and improves recovery outcomes. Our printed heaters can be integrated into surgical warming blankets and mattress pads. The ultra-thin profile adds no bulk to the clinical environment, and PTC self-regulation provides a failsafe against overheating even if monitoring equipment fails.
Therapeutic heat therapy
Printed heaters for therapeutic heat pads, joint wraps, and pain management devices. Flexible and conformable to the body, powered by low-voltage USB-C or battery packs. NTC thermistors with PID control enable precise temperature settings for therapeutic protocols. PTC variants provide inherent safety for unsupervised home use.
Incubator and radiant warmer heating elements
Ultra-thin printed heating elements for integration into neonatal incubators and radiant warmers. The printed heaters distribute heat more uniformly than conventional wire-wound elements and can be shaped to match the specific geometry of the incubator surface. PTC self-regulation adds an inherent safety layer in addition to the incubator's own control systems.
Materials and biocompatibility
All medical printed electronics are manufactured on TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) substrates, which are inherently skin-friendly, soft, and flexible. Our electrode materials include Ag (silver), Ag/AgCl (silver/silver chloride), and carbon, all of which are standard medical-grade conductive materials widely used in clinical electrodes and sensors.