Large-Area 3D Printable Soft Electronic Skin for Biomedical Applications

Roy, AC and Kumar, N and Subramanya, SB and Gupta, A and Kumar, A and Bid, A and Venkataraman, V (2022) Large-Area 3D Printable Soft Electronic Skin for Biomedical Applications. In: ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering .

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Abstract

Soft electronic skin (soft-e-skin) capable of sensing touch and pressure similar to human skin is essential in many applications, including robotics, healthcare, and augmented reality. However, most of the research effort on soft-e-skin was confined to the lab-scale demonstration. Several hurdles remain challenging, such as highly complex and expensive fabrication processes, instability in long-term use, and difficulty producing large areas and mass production. Here, we present a robust 3D printable large-area electronic skin made of a soft and resilient polymer capable of detecting touch and load, and bending with extreme sensitivity (up to 150 kPa-1) to touch and load, 750 times higher than earlier work. The soft-e-skin shows excellent long-term stability and consistent performance up to almost a year. In addition, we describe a fabrication process capable of producing large areas and in large numbers, yet is cost-effective. The soft-e-skin consists of a uniquely designed optical waveguide and a layer of a soft membrane with an array of soft structures which work as passive sensing nodes. The use of a soft structure gives the liberty of stretching to the soft-e-skin without considering the disjoints among the sensing nodes. We have shown the functioning of the soft-e-skin under various conditions.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering
Publisher:	American Chemical Society
Additional Information:	The copyright for this article belongs to the American Chemical Society.
Keywords:	3D printers; Augmented reality; Deformation; Medical applications; Optical waveguides, 3-D printing; 3D-printing; Biomedical applications; Contact Mechanics; Electronic skin; Fabrication process; Sensing nodes; Soft electronic skin; Soft electronics; Soft structure, Cost effectiveness
Department/Centre:	Division of Mechanical Sciences > Mechanical Engineering Division of Physical & Mathematical Sciences > Physics
Date Deposited:	13 Sep 2022 06:42
Last Modified:	13 Sep 2022 06:42
URI:	https://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/76760

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