Self-healing electronic skin
Researchers from the University of Colorado at Boulder, led by Jianliang Xiao, have created a sensor capable of repairing minor damage. After the end of the study, it can be decomposed into its constituent components and a new one can be assembled from them.
Electronic skin, as the developers called it, is a thin transparent plate that mimics the properties and functions of human skin. It can be used in robotics, the creation of prostheses and other biomedical devices.
Different types of electronic skin are being actively developed in laboratories around the world, as it plays an important role in biomedical and scientific and technical fields.
The new sensor is capable of sensing touch, temperature, humidity and determining the air flow velocity.
The technology has several distinctive properties, including a new type of covalent bond in polyimine polymer networks, which is permeated with silver microparticles to give the elastic structure mechanical strength, chemical stability and electrical conductivity.
The main advantage of the development is the ability of polyimine to recover from damage and decompose at room temperature after the end of use. In the context of the large-scale problem of the accumulation of electronic waste, the last property of electronic skin looks quite attractive.
The uniqueness of the polymer is also in the fact that its flexible structure allows you to stick it on uneven surfaces or areas of the body where bends are possible, for example, on your hands. In the event that the sensor is damaged by excessive bending, it will recover independently at room temperature in just a few seconds.
After the end of use, the electronic skin can be placed in a special solution that breaks down polymers to oligomers, and then monomers. Silver nanoparticles settle at the bottom of the solution. The monomers and silver ions resulting from the dissolution of the sensor can be collected and reused.
Article by Z. Zouetal. Rhealable, fully recyclable, and malleable electronic skin enabled by dynamic covalent thermoset nanocomposite is published in the journal Science Advances.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on CU Boulder: New malleable 'electronic skin' self-healing, recyclable.