Self-healing Materials for Soft Electronics and Robotics
The rapid development of artificial electronic materials with skin-like capabilities, such as self-healing and pressure sensitivity, creates exciting opportunities for applications in emerging robotics and human-machine interfaces. However, it remains challenging to have an artificial material that inherently possesses transparency, stretchability, and self-healing characteristics. Inspired by sea jellyfishes, Tan will present two optically transparent skin-like materials that self-heals autonomously: an ionically conductive material and a high permittivity dielectric polymer. We take advantage of the materials’ transparency and tunable properties to 3D print soft ionic circuit boards, and demonstrate potential applications in mechano-sensory functions and light-emitting devices.
Watch an MRS TV interview with Yang Liu and Yu Jun Tan.