AWARD YEAR
2019
CATEGORY
Body
GOALS
Good Health & Well-being
KEYWORDS
artificial skin
COUNTRY
United States of America
DESIGNED BY
Jianliang Xiao + team at University of Boulder
WEBSITE
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/4/2/eaaq0508.full
E-Skin
Rehealable and recyclable electronic skin enabled by dynamic covalent thermoset nanocomposite.
Electronic skin (e-skin) mimicking functionalities and mechanical properties of natural skin can find broad applications. Scientists from University of Boulder now report the first dynamic covalent thermoset-based e-skin, which is connected through robust covalent bonds, rendering the resulting devices good chemical and thermal stability at service condition. By doping the dynamic covalent thermoset with conductive silver nanoparticles, they demonstrate a robust yet rehealable, fully recyclable, and malleable e-skin. Tactile, temperature, flow, and humidity sensing capabilities are realized. The e-skin can be rehealed when it is damaged and can be fully recycled at room temperature, which has rarely, if at all, been demonstrated for e-skin. After rehealing or recycling, the e-skin regains mechanical and electrical properties comparable to the original e-skin.