Motion artefact management for soft bioelectronics

Soft bioelectronic devices can be interfaced with anatomically curved organs, such as the heart, brain and skin, to provide continuous analysis of physiological information. However, body movements and physiological activities may induce motion artefacts, which can adversely affect signal accuracy and stability. Importantly, motion artefact management is key to promoting the clinical translation of soft bioelectronics to ensure that soft bioelectronic devices can selectively detect target biological signals with high accuracy. In this Review, we discuss how body activities can affect the soft bioelectronic–tissue interface and result in motion artefact signals, including interface impedance instability motion artefacts, biopotential motion artefacts and mechanical motion artefacts. We then investigate different motion artefact management strategies, including materials engineering, device and circuit design, and algorithmic intervention, to reduce the contribution of motion artefacts to signal acquisition, processing and interpretation. Motion artefacts challenge the translational application of soft bioelectronics by distorting physiological monitoring. This Review introduces fundamental causes of motion artefacts and discusses various management strategies, including materials usage, bioelectronics design and algorithmic intervention.