#flexible electronics

(Nanowerk News) Korean researchers have secured flexible electronic skin technology that can be fabricated directly in the field (npj Flexible Electronics, "Scalable in-situ fabrication of multimodal electronic skin for intelligent robotics and interactive systems"). This achievement has further increased the feasibility of commercializing electronic skin for use in various fields, including robots and wearable devices. Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced that, in collaboration with the research team of Professor Ahn Jun Seong from the Department of Control and Instrumentation Engineering at Korea University's Sejong Campus, it has developed an in-situ process-based electronic skin fabrication technology capable of producing large-area multimodal sensors without a cleanroom, a dedicated semiconductor clean-processing facility.

Bust a Move

Entering stage-left like a disco dancer with a score to settle, this tiny ‘soft robot’ makes a determined effort to cross the floor. All the more impressive as people keep sticking knives into its limbs. This quadruped robot is made from a self-healing material – an elastomer that repairs after the cuts, combined with wavy light sensors capable of detecting stress and damage then feeding the information back to a controlling computer. In this particular model, after every cut the robot adjusts its movement – it’s gait – to compensate for its injuries. Researchers believe this new generation of flexible electronics gains a form of awareness or 'damage intelligence' – they’re not only resilient to damage but can adapt to it. Similar robots may be suited to working inside or alongside the body, monitoring stresses and strains on and off the dance floor.

Written by John Ankers

Video by Hedan Bai, Young Seong Kim & Robert F. Shepherd (edited)

Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Published in Science Advances, December 2022

Rice University – Flexible insulator offers high strength and superior thermal conduction – Applications for Flexible Electronics and Energy Storage

  Rice University research scientist M.M. Rahman holds a flexible dielectric made of a polymer nanofiber layer and boron nitride. The new material stands up to high temperatures and could be ideal for flexible electronics, energy storage and electric devices where heat is a factor. Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University

A nanocomposite invented at Rice University’s Brown School of…

Credit: G.L. Kohuth. The flexible ferroelectret nanogenerator can be embedded into a flag or other fabric.

It is a self-powered thin patch loudspeaker or microphone for flexible electronics.

1. Nanotechnology researchers at Michigan State University, USA, have discovered that a paper-thin ferroelectret nanogenerator (FENG) they developed in 2016 can convert vibrations from sound or mechanical energy into electrical energy, and vice versa.

2. The FENG incorporates a silicon wafer and thin sheets of silver, polyamide and polypropylene ferroelectret, with ions added to each layer.

3. The device generates energy when compressed by human movement.

4. To demonstrate its use as a microphone, the team developed a FENG security patch, accessing a computer using voice recognition. To show its function as a loudspeaker, they implanted the FENG fabric into a flag and played music through it.

5. Potential applications include lightweight loudspeakers, voice-activated newspapers, noise-cancelling sheeting and voice-activated security patches.

To read the paper in full visit, go.nature.com/2qF7Lwy

Conductive hydrogel mimics brain softness for flexible bioelectronic devices

Bioelectronics, such as implantable health monitors or devices that stimulate brain cells, are not as soft as the surrounding tissues due to their metal electronic circuits. A team of scientists from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, led by associate professor Ranjita Bose, have now developed a soft polymer hydrogel that can conduct electricity as well as metal can. As the material is both flexible and soft, it is more compatible with sensitive tissues. This finding has the potential for a large number of applications, for example, in biocompatible sensors and in wound healing. The scientists coated a porous hydrogel with the conductive polymer polypyrrole, using oxidative chemical vapor deposition. They applied an ultrathin layer to ensure that the gel would remain soft and stretchable. Tests showed that the coated gel was compatible with neural cells, making it a promising platform for soft, implantable, and biocompatible bioelectronics.

Durable ionogel withstands 5,000 times its weight while staying soft on skin

The development of soft materials that can reliably function on the human body is important for the future of bioelectronics and wearable medical devices. These materials need to comfortably conform to the skin while being durable enough for everyday use. However, many existing soft materials are easily damaged, limiting their practical applications. A research team led by Professor Lizhi Xu from the Department of Mechanical Engineering under the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has created a new type of ionogel that overcomes this challenge. The material is soft and flexible, yet strong enough to withstand significant mechanical stress, making it ideal for wearable and biomedical applications. The research is published in the journal Science Advances, in an article titled "High-strength and fracture-resistant ionogels via solvent-tailored interphase cohesion in nanofibrous composite networks."