Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for optical signaling and tactile sensing.

Journal: Science (New York, N.Y.)
PMID: 26941316

Abstract

Cephalopods such as octopuses have a combination of a stretchable skin and color-tuning organs to control both posture and color for visual communication and disguise. We present an electroluminescent material that is capable of large uniaxial stretching and surface area changes while actively emitting light. Layers of transparent hydrogel electrodes sandwich a ZnS phosphor-doped dielectric elastomer layer, creating thin rubber sheets that change illuminance and capacitance under deformation. Arrays of individually controllable pixels in thin rubber sheets were fabricated using replica molding and were subjected to stretching, folding, and rolling to demonstrate their use as stretchable displays. These sheets were then integrated into the skin of a soft robot, providing it with dynamic coloration and sensory feedback from external and internal stimuli.

Authors

  • C Larson
    Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
  • B Peele
    Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
  • S Li
    Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, China.
  • S Robinson
    Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
  • M Totaro
    Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
  • L Beccai
    Center for Micro-BioRobotics@SSSA, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, I-56025 Pontedera, Italy.
  • B Mazzolai
  • R Shepherd
    Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

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