Ultrathin organic device displays information directly on skin
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Ultrathin organic device displays information directly on skin
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he field of electronic skin (e-skin) has blossomed in recent years, with researchers demonstrating a range of practical healthcare applications for these wearable devices, ranging from detecting inflammation around wounds to reading the electrical activity of the brain. Various research groups are now working toward incorporating stretchable light-emitting diodes (LEDs) into their devices, which would allow users to read their vitals straight from their skin. In a step toward this goal, materials scientists at The University of Tokyo have created an ultrathin and ultraflexible optoelectronic skin with organic photodetectors and highly efficient polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs). In a practical test of the technology, published recently in Science Advances (doi:10.1126/ sciadv.1501856), the team demonstrated a skin-laminated device that could serve as an accurate pulse oximeter to measure oxygen concentration of blood, and that is stable enough to survive in ambient air. “Future technology is growing from wearable (e.g., smartbands, smart watches) to skin-attachable sensors and devices,” says Hyunhyub Ko, a chemical engineer at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea who was not involved in the study. “The advantage of skin-attachable e-skins is the improvement of biosignal detection accuracy and unobtrusive monitoring of daily healthcare signals. In this regard, I think that this work [has] opened a pathway to skin-attachable organic optoelectronic skins.” A key aspect of e-skin is its ability to flex and stretch with the skin without becoming damaged. Previously, researchers successfully created stretchable devices using very thin inorganic LEDs, but the fabrication process was unsuitable for creating inexpensive, large-area devices. Organic LEDs are an attractive alternative. In addition to the natural flexibility of organic materials, “we can fabricate the device using [a] low-temperature process and printing,” says the study's first author and University of Tokyo engineer Tomoyuki Yokota,
adding that this reduces fabrication costs and allows for the use of very thin substrates. In a previous study, the research group of Takao Someya, lead author of the current paper, developed ultrathin (2-μm-thick), highly flexible, stretchable PLEDs, but these devices were driven in a nitrogen atmosphere and were not stable in air. For the new work, Yokota, Someya, Researchers have developed an ultrathin, ultraflexible electronic and their colleagues sought skin that contains a digital display with either red, blue, or green polymer light-emitting diodes. Credit: The University of Tokyo, to solve this issue by opti- Someya Group Organic Transistor Lab. mizing the fabrication of their PLEDs—while still employing materials and processes currently used in the producThese PLEDs could also be laminated tion of organic LEDs—and developing onto skin as an analog or a seven-sega protective, transparent film, or “passiment numerical digit
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