Aug 12, 2011 12:57 GMT  ·  By
The newly developed device, an epidermal electronic system created by an international team of engineers and scientists
   The newly developed device, an epidermal electronic system created by an international team of engineers and scientists

An international collaboration of researchers announce the development of a new technology that enables the creation of a new class of micro-electronics. The latter includes electric tattoos, as well as sensors that conform to the shape of the skin they cover.

The technology the team used to create the new devices relies on the epidermal electronic system (EES), which is an ingenious mixture of miniature sensors, light-emitting diodes, tiny transmitters and receivers and networks of carefully crafted wire filaments.

These filaments are what enable the devices to be twisted and bent – horizontally, vertically and diagonally – just like the skin can. These ultra-thin, self-adhesive electronics device can be fashioned into heart sensors, brain wave monitors, muscle activity gages and so on.

If employed at a large scale, then they could eliminate the need of bulky hospital equipment, which usually involves the use of conductive fluids and glues. Furthermore, patients will be able to monitor whatever aspect of their bodies they see fit, when they see fit.

Additionally, the devices could also set the foundation for a new class of electronics that would be used as non-permanent electric tattoos, says lead study author Dae-Hyeong Kim. The expert and his team published the findings in the August 12 issue of the top journal Science.

Investigators from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, the Northwestern University, Tufts University, the Institute of High Performance Computing in Singapore, and the Dalian University of Technology, in China, were also a part of the study team.

“Our goal was to develop an electronic technology that could integrate with the skin in a way that is mechanically and physiologically invisible to the user,” corresponding author John Rogers adds.

“We found a solution that involves devices we designed to achieve physical properties that match to the epidermis itself. It's a technology that blurs the distinction between electronics and biology,” says the expert, who is an UIUC Materials Science and Engineering Department professor.

The EES-based designs are less than 50 microns thick, which means that they are much thinner than a human hair. The electronic components are built on the same polyester back that people may recognize from standard stick-on tattoos.

“The mechanics behind the design for our serpentine-shaped electronics makes the device as soft as the human skin,” Northwestern University engineer and lead project researcher Yonggang Huang says.

“The design enables brittle, inorganic semiconductors to achieve extremely vast stretchability and flexibility. Plus, the serpentine design is very useful for self adhesion to any surface without using glues,” he concludes.

The new study was funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the United States Air Force, the Department of Energy and the Beckman Institute.