A unique, multi-component the soft ‘e-skin‘ just like real skin triggers nerve impulses that communicate with the brain. A unique, multi-component, soft and stretchable material with electrical equipment installed in muscles that can feel pressure, heat, tension and other things, just like real leather.
Dermatologists can feel the weight of a butterfly, the warmth of a nearby flame or a cool drink, understand whether the hand is lifting the hand or the sign of peace, and read the voice of a loved one with a soft feeling. soft touch.
Engineers seeking to create chemical electronic skins have been able to fabricate soft and flexible fabrics that mimic each of these remarkable concepts, but they have yet to create a single piece of paper that resembles the skin of can talk directly to the brain – until now. .
While previous efforts required complex electronics to convert visual signals into electrical signals that the brain can read, researchers at Stanford University have developed a flexible integrated circuit that -converts pressure or temperature into electrical signals similar to nerve impulses to communicate with the brain.
Researchers hope one day that these signals can be transmitted to wireless communication chips implanted in peripheral nerves to enable amputees to control prosthetic limbs. It can be used for other purposes which may include new implantable medical devices or wearables.
“We have been working on monolithic e-skin for some time. The obstacle is not the process of finding a way to imitate the remarkable emotional capabilities of human touch, but to combine them together using only materials that resemble skin,” Zhenan Bao, K.K. See Professor of Chemical Engineering and lead author published in the journal said. Science.
“Part of the challenge is to optimize the components of the electronic skin so that they can be integrated into an integrated circuit with sufficient complexity to make the nerve-like train work and the voltage fully functional, bass will be used safely on the human body.”
Weichen Wang, a doctoral student in Bao’s lab, who is one of the first authors of the paper said. Wang has been working on this prototype for 3 years. Layers of technology
The goal is a flexible integrated circuit that can mimic the structure of the sensor’s receivers and operate efficiently at low voltages.
Unfortunately, Wang’s first attempt required more than 30 volts or more and could not make a complete circuit. “This new e-skin works with only 5 volts and can detect stimuli similar to real skin,” he said.
Artificial skin will be necessary for the prosthetic parts of the new year that not only restore movement and functions, such as grip, but also provide sensory feedback (effectively) that helps the user to control the device better.
Not only that, but the tissue itself will stretch and return flawlessly, time and time again, without ever losing its electrical properties.
The team developed a three-layer dielectric system that helped make the electric carriers move 30 times faster than a single dielectric layer, allowing the circuit to operate at a lower voltage.
Interestingly, one of the layers of the trilayer is nitrile, the same rubber used in surgical masks. Most electronic skins are very similar to skin.
A network of organic nanostructures is added to each layer and transmits electrical signals even when stretched. These networks can be designed to detect pressure, temperature, stress, and chemicals. Each effect input has its own integrated circuit.
Then, all the different sensor layers will be placed in a single monolithic material that does not peel, tear, or lose electrical activity. Each electronic device is only a few tens to hundreds of nanometers thick, and the finished product of half a dozen levels is less than one micron.
“But of course it’s too thin to handle easily, so we use a substrate to support it, which brings our e-skin to about 25-50 microns, or about the thickness of a piece of paper ,” Bao said. “It’s in the shape of a rat like a layer of human tissue.”
Next Generation Success
This system is the first to combine understanding and all the electrical requirements and properties of human skin in a soft, durable form that can be used in next-generation prosthetic skin and human-innovative materials, machine to give the feeling of human touch
With their prototype completed, Bao, Wang and their team have now set out to increase the complexity and scalability of their technology, adding wireless functionality and ways to interact with the brain and body.
Source: Stanford University.
