E-skin has medical, personal, gaming applications

LANZHOU — Chinese researchers have recently developed a new type of self-powered, flexible and transparent electronic skin, or e-skin, that is capable of monitoring subtle activity, opening up new possibilities for the future of wearable electronics.

This e-skin integrates a flexible transparent supercapacitor for energy storage with a transparent strain sensor, said Lan Wei, professor at the School of Physical Science and Technology of Lanzhou University and leader of the research team.

"It is inspired by the sensory functions and performance of real human skin," he added. "Thanks to its mechanical suppleness, it can be directly attached to various locations on the body to monitor activity.

The e-skin has application prospects in the fields of smart healthcare, human-machine interaction, virtual reality and artificial intelligence, among others.

As the body's largest organ, skin is responsible for multiple major functions including protection, respiration, perspiration, thermoregulation and sensory stimulation.

It forms the basis of people's physical interactions with the outside world.

The ideal e-skin should be ultrasensitive, self-powered, conform to human skin and be transparent for visual and aesthetic purposes.

The supercapacitor uses oxygen-deficient molybdenum oxide nanowires and cellulose nanofiber composite as paper electrodes to achieve an impressive combination of transparency and energy-storage capacity to drive the sensor.

Tests show that the new e-skin performs well in terms of flexibility, transparency, electro-chemistry and sensitivity.

Once charged, it is able to simulate the perceptive function of skin and can be applied to human skin for the real-time monitoring of subtle physical signals and activities such as detecting the pulse, swallowing and other movements.

"E-skin is the core of future wearable electronic devices and has promising prospects. For example, it may enable surgeons to more precisely control surgical robots, mimic the sensation of touch at a distance and even help create a more immersive gaming experience," Lan said.

Going forward, the team will focus on strengthening the skin's sensory capacity and power supply, making it even closer to human skin and more useful in future applications, he added.

Xinhua