Highly conductive and elastic nanomembrane for skin electronics

TLDR

Human touch requires highly conductive, stretchable, and thin skin materials, a challenge for robotics. The authors developed a process to assemble nanomaterials as a monolayer partially embedded in an ultrathin elastomer. The process deposits a mixed solvent of nanostructured silver and/or gold with elastomer onto deionized water. The resulting nanoparticle layer at the interface is densified by surfactant, producing scalable elastomer membranes transferable to other substrates. Jung et al.

Abstract

Thin, sensitive skin electronics The properties of the human sense of touch, including high sensitivity to differences in temperature, pressure, or surface roughness, are challenging to replicate in robotics because skin materials must be highly conductive, stretchable, and thin. Jung et al . developed a process to assemble nanomaterials as a monolayer that is partially embedded in an ultrathin elastomer. The process works by depositing a mixed solvent containing nanostructured silver and/or gold, along with elastomer, onto deionized water. This results in a layer of nanoparticles residing at the interface coating with elastomer, which is further densified by the addition of surfactant. The process is scalable, and the resulting elastomer membranes can be transferred to other substrates. —MSL