Skins play a key role especially when it comes to mediating interactions with our world today. For instance the human skin acts as sensors to detect temperature and pressure, heal itself and stretch. Electronic skins are also designed to operate via a similar mechanism. They are basically a thin electronic material that act like the human skin in many ways. Incorporating the properties of the skin to this electronic components has different effects in different fields including medicine, robotics and prosthetics.
Today there are different innovations in artificial sensory technology that seeks to imitate the unique features of the human skin. This includes stretch ability, mechanical durability, ability to measure different sensations and biodegradability. There are also new fabrication approaches and materials that are used for the development of multifunctional and mechanically compliant skin like electronics as well as for improving brain-machine interfaces to further enable the transmission of signals from these skins to the body.
Much progress have been made in this field and there are now many materials that are designed to blend with surroundings, detect pressure, measure body temperature and more. This article will take you through some of these innovations so continue reading for more.
Sensory Electronic Skin
At the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology researchers have been able to design electronic skins capable of detecting changes in pressure and temperature. This skin is made of reduced graphene oxide and a polymer to enhance the ability of the skin to detect sensory changes even the tiniest amount of pressure. This innovation makes the skin the best choice for future caregiver robots.
Today there are wearable devices that are like a temporary tattoo that are designed to transmit and store data about the movements of the wearer. Some are also designed to release drugs to the skin while others are designed to receive diagnostic information. There are more efforts in place to further revolutionize this sector and this is just to mention a few.
Sweating Electronic Skin
Researchers at a Northwestern University have been able to develop a soft flexible microfluidic device which happens to be the first of its kind. This device adheres to the skin with ease and takes measurement of the sweat of the wearer to show how they respond to exercises. The device is also designed to take analysis of important biomarkers for users to make quick decisions especially in cases where changes may be required like replenishing electrolytes or drinking water.
The key thing to note about these devices is that they are designed to be used only once and for a few hours. They are directly placed on the skin of the back or forearm where they detect biomarkers. It is expected that in the future these devices will be widely applied for diagnostic purposes.
Lightning Electronic Skin
At the University of California at Berkeley researchers have been able to create electronic skins that lightens up when touched. Basically pressure triggers a reaction on the electronic skin that causes it to lit up green, yellow, red and blue LEDs. The lights gets brighter when the pressure on the skin increases.
Materials used for the design of this electronic skin include synthetic plastic and rubber. Also the LEDs are organic and they are lit with the aid of conductive silver ink and semiconductor carbon nanotubes. Multiple circuits were also used in making the skin and each of these circuits had pressure sensors, a tiny LED and transistors.
Self Healing Electronic Skin
Researchers at the Stanford University have successfully developed electronic skin with self healing capabilities achieved through the combination of nickel and plastic and a conductive metal. Unlike self healing polymers created by other researchers, electronic skins don’t need UV light or high temperature for their activation.
A key thing to note about this type of electronic skin is that their individual plastic molecules break with ease. However their bonds can be reformed easily. Apart from the self healing ability of the skin the skin are also sensitive to pressure while being flexible. This is one of the first skins to show these properties at once.
Color Shifting Electronic Skin
The well known capacity of animals like octopuses, squids and chameleons to alter their skin color for purposes like temperature regulation, communication or camouflage has long fascinated scientists. While advancements have been made in creating artificial skins that mimic these color changing abilities the results typically require significant mechanical stress to be visible to the human eye.
However researches at Tsinghua University have now developed an innovative user-interactive electronic skin capable of color change. Remarkably these changes are easily noticeable without needing substantial strain. This breakthrough technology holds potential application in fields such as prosthetics, wearable devices and robotics.
Emerging Applications
Electronic skins offers a sleek alternative to bulky conventional electronics for monitoring vital signs like brain activity, muscle contractions and heartbeat. Beyond patient monitoring these advanced skins can detect speech by sensing laryngeal vibrations and emit heat to aid healing processes.
With a thickness comparable to a human hair the skin can be applied as a temporary tattoo adhering without glue and capable of flexing and stretching without breaking. Essentially it consists of mechanically flexible sensor networks that can wrap around irregular surfaces providing spatial mapping and quantification of various stimuli.
The long term vision for electronic skin involves the integration of diverse sensor networks including strain, temperature, light, humidity and pressure sensors as well as their associated electronics onto large area plastic substrates. This integration will be achieved using processes compatible with conventional silicon or LCD manufacturing lines. The sensor elements are composed of materials like oxides, piezoelectrics, metals, silicon and organics all processed at temperatures below 25 degrees. This innovation could revolutionize interactive input/control devices, robotics, smart wallpapers and medical/health monitoring applications.
In the future athletes could use electronic skin to monitor heart rates, sugar levels and performance metrics. Doctors might receive continuous data on patients’ vital signs without needing to attach and remove medical equipment repeatedly.
Rockies Ripple is the founder and lead writer behind the independent blog tvplutos.com