Flexible electronics herald e-skins for humans.
Rigid electronics can be bulky, heavy, and fail to conform to dimensional shapes. To overcome these obstacles, Japanese researchers have developed Flexible and stretchable electronics. Takao Somaya, from the University of Tokyo (Japan), and colleagues incorporate flexible circuit boards, thin-film transistors, temperature sensors, and organic LEDs to create bionic skin. The team is hopeful that this “e-skin” may one day serve as artificial skin to cover humans (burn victims, for example).
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Kaltenbrunner M, Sekitani T, Reeder J, Yokota T, Kuribara K, Tokuhara T, Drack M, Schwödiauer R, Graz I, Bauer-Gogonea S, Bauer S, Someya T. “An ultra-lightweight design for imperceptible plastic electronics.” Nature. 2013 Jul 25;499(7459):458-63.