Jun 17, 2011 06:55 GMT  ·  By
UU experts create stretchable sensors that can wirelessly deliver data to a computer
   UU experts create stretchable sensors that can wirelessly deliver data to a computer

Experts at the Uppsala University (UU), in Sweden, announce the creation of a new sensors, which can be stretched and deformed, and still remain capable of sending wireless signals to a computer.

The work represents an important step forwards in the effort to create deformable electronics, devices that function like normal electronics, but which can be bent, twisted and otherwise deformed without suffering any type of damage.

Developing such materials could lead to the development of foldable displays and cell phones, flexible laptops and keyboards, and so much more. However, obtaining these materials has thus far proven to be a very complex task.

Zhigang Wu, a researcher at Scandinavia's oldest university (UU was founded in 1477), was the main researcher on the new work. He and his team published details of the wireless sensor in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific Journal Advanced Functional Materials.

The group says that its sensor could for example be used to measure a variety of parameters of the human body, while a person wearing them is engaged in vigorous exercises, or other intense efforts.

The instrument could pick up various data from the body, and then send them directly to a computer, even as it is stretched and bent by the intense motions. This is the latest accomplishment in the field of µFSRFE (microfluidic stretchable radio frequency electronics).

UU experts say that the sensor was made possible by the combination of classic electronics with channels of elastomers filled with fluid metal. These channels are what allow the sensor to revert to its original shape after it is deformed.

Wu, “in collaboration with researchers at the company Laird Technologies, has presented a newly developed and wireless µFSRFE sensor consisting of a multifunctional antenna integrated with a conventional rigid circuit board,” an UU press release states.

“The design enables wireless measurement of repeated bending across a large area or movable parts. The sensor they designed will pave the way for myriad new applications that until now have only been seen on the movie screen,” the statement concludes.