Artificial Electronic Skin

Researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy(DOE)'s Lawerence Berkeley National Laboratory

(Berkeley Lab) have developed a promising new inexpensive technique for fabricating large-scale

flexible and stretchable back planes using semiconductor-enriched carbon nanotube solutions that

yield networks of thin film transistors with superb electrical properties,including a charge carrier

mobility that is dramatically higher than that of organic counterparts. To demonstrate the utility

of their carbon nanotube back planes, the researches constructed an artificial electronic skin(e-skin)

capable of detecting and responding to touch.

Imprinting electronic circuitry on back planes that are both flexible and stretchable promises to

revolutionize a number of industries and make "smart devices" nearly ubiquitious. Among the

applications that have been envisioned are electronic pads that could be folded away like paper,

coatings that could monitor surfaces for cracks and other structural failures, medical bandages

that could treat infections and food packaging that could detect spoilage. From solar cells to

pacemakers to clothing, the list of smart applications for so called "plastic electronics" is both

flexible and stretchable. First, however, suitable backplanes must be mass-produced in a cost

effective way.