Release date: 2018-02-13
I believe many people have seen the movie "Terminator". There is a scene in it. After the big BOSS was shot, the skin could be cured in a few seconds. Nowadays, this "black technology" has almost become a reality. Although there is no such fantasy in the movie, the "electronic skin" invented by scientists is plastic, self-healing and fully recyclable.
Image source: Jianliang Xiao / University of Colorado Boulder
As the body's largest organ, the skin not only protects our internal tissues and organs, but also provides the feeling of temperature, pressure, vibration and touch. Inspired by the healing power of natural skin wounds, researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder found a curable electronic skin. Related papers were published in the journal Science Advances.
Electronic skin (e-skin) is a thin, translucent material that mimics human skin function and mechanical properties. As researchers recognize its value in different fields of medicine, science, and engineering, laboratories around the world are developing a variety of different types and sizes of wearable electronic skin.
The head of the study, CU Boulder associate professor of chemistry, Jianliang Xiao, and associate professor of biochemistry, Wei Zhang, said they developed new electronic skin sensors that measure pressure, temperature, humidity and airflow. In addition, there are several unique features, including the connection of dynamic network polymers (polyimide) through strong covalent bonds, combined with silver nanoparticles, which provide better mechanical strength, chemical stability and electrical conductivity.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaq0508
Another benefit of this new electronic skin is that it can be easily applied to curved surfaces such as human arms and robotic hands, applying appropriate heat and pressure without introducing excessive gravity.
“Suppose you want a robot to take care of a child,†Zhang said. “In this case, you can integrate the electronic skin into a robotic finger that can feel the pressure of your baby.â€
The researchers also implemented the recycling of electronic skin by immersing the device in a recovery solution to degrade the polymer into oligomers (polymers with a polymerization degree of usually less than 10) and monomers soluble in ethanol (which can be joined Small molecules of the polymer), the silver nanoparticles will sink to the bottom of the solution. Xiao said that recycled solutions and silver nanoparticles can be used to make new functional electronic skin.
This new electronic skin is expected to be widely used in robotics, prosthetics, health monitoring and biomedical devices due to its plasticity, repairability and recyclability.
Source: Bio-Exploration
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