Skin Electronics!

Find out more below….

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1. Skin Inspired Electronics

Stanford University chemical engineer Zhenan Bao and her research team have been on a quest to build skin-inspired electronics that are soft and stretchy, and now they have shown the proof of principle towards a stretchable display with a maximum brightness of at least two times that of a cellphone that can be stretched up to twice its original length without tearing.

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2. Light-Emitting Polymers

The solution was the discovery of a method to produce a high brightness elastic light-emitting polymer. Most light-emitting polymers crack when stretched but their flexibility can be increased by adding elastic materials like rubber, which are generally electrically insulating. As a result, these polymers require dangerously high voltages to produce a dim light.

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3. Polymers with fishnet like nanostructures

The scientists discovered that when a yellow-colored light-emitting polymer called SuperYellow was mixed with Polyurethane, the SuperYellow formed fishnet-like nanostructures to make the brittle polymer stretchable and also enable the polymer to emit brighter light. After this, the team was able to create elastic red, green and blue light-emitting polymers.

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4. Building an electronic display

With a bright elastic light-emitting polymer in hand, the research team went on to build an electronic display with it. The final device had 7 layers with various functions for encapsulation and functionality with the light-emitting layer sandwiched in the center. 

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5. Future of Screens: Sight + Touch

This all-polymer display film can easily adhere to the arm or a finger and does not lose its functionality when bending or flexing. This will allow wearable trackers to have their display directly attached to human skin. With the rise of the metaverse, the future may include display screens where you can both see and feel the 3D objects revolutionizing the way we interact remotely.

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Author: Shubhadeep Majumdar

Source: https://lnkd.in/g9PwbvSr

Sustainable Development Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure

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