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Duan et al. Soft Sci. 2025, 5, 4 Soft Science
DOI: 10.20517/ss.2024.46

Research Article Open Access

A biocompatible integrated bladder electronics for

wireless capacity monitoring assessment

Lin Duan, Ming-Liang Jin *
School of Automation, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, Shandong, China.
*
Correspondence to: Prof. Ming-Liang Jin, School of Automation, Qingdao University, Ningxia Road, Qingdao 266071,
Shandong, China. E-mail: jinmingliang@qdu.edu.cn

How to cite this article: Duan, L.; Jin, M. L. A biocompatible integrated bladder electronics for wireless capacity monitoring
assessment. Soft Sci. 2025, 5, 4. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ss.2024.46

Received: 20 Sep 2024 First Decision: 24 Oct 2024 Revised: 13 Nov 2024 Accepted: 29 Nov 2024 Published: 17 Jan 2025

Academic Editors: Seung Hwan Ko, Carlo Massaroni Copy Editor: Ting-Ting Hu Production Editor: Ting-Ting Hu

Abstract
The real-time assessment and personalized monitoring of human bladder status is important for individuals with
involuntary voiding, overactive bladder and bladder disorders such as urinary incontinence. To address the
shortcomings of traditional urodynamic methods where the equipment is bulky, complex, invasive, expensive and
unable to continuously monitor bladder status, and to meet the needs of healthcare professionals and family
members to know the patient’s bladder capacity, this paper designs the biocompatible integrated bladder
electronics for wireless capacity monitoring assessment. The device employs chitosan, which exhibits favorable
biocompatibility, to fabricate patch electrodes, and optimizes their performance through the plasticizing effect of
glycerol, with a polarization resistance of 4.8983 kΩ, a maximum tensile force of up to 107.5 kPa, and remains
chemically stable for long-term wear. The principle of bioelectrical impedance analysis is employed to integrate a
hardware system comprising multiple modules, including a microcontroller, information processing,
communication, display and power supply. After the integrated system design is completed with electrodes
connected and encapsulated, data on bladder electrical impedance changes is gathered and transmitted wirelessly
to the user interface for non-invasive real-time monitoring and intelligent assessment of bladder capacity. The
experimental results demonstrate a high correlation between human bladder electrical impedance and bladder
volume, with a systematic measurement correlation coefficient reaching 96.7%. The research equipment is
portable, simple to operate, and radiation-free to the human body. It has significant potential for real-time
monitoring and intelligent alarm of bladder capacity.

Keywords: Bladder disease, biocompatible electrodes, bioelectrical impedance analysis, integrated wearable
electronics, wireless capacity monitoring

© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and
indicate if changes were made.

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