Toronto Star (Feb. 17) -- While the biggest trend in electronics right now seems to be making computer chips ever smaller, U. of I. materials science and engineering professor John Rogers says his research group has a very different goal: to change the properties of the chips themselves, making them stretchy and soluble rather than rigid and long-lasting. This isn’t a theoretical problem. At the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Chicago on Monday, Rogers showed videos of an actual temporary tattoo made in his lab that has circuitry embedded in it. The circuitry can flex and twist just like the tattoo can, and peels off just as easily.
Related article: Nanalyze (Feb. 17) -- Elastronics or “stretchable electronics” are an emerging class of electronics that mimic human skin in that they can retain full functionality while being stretched. This technology opens the door to many interesting applications such as cyber skin for robotic devices, screens that can double in size when stretched like rubber, fabrics that can illuminate, wallpaper lighting, seamless wearable health monitors, and the list goes on. One company making progress in commercializing stretchable electronics is MC10.