Wearable electronics are finding emerging applications in mobile health, rehabilitation, prosthetics/exoskeletons, athletic training, human-machine interaction, etc. However, skin is soft, curvilinear, and dynamic, whereas wafer-based electronics are hard, planar, and rigid. As a result, state-of-the-art wearables can only be strapped or clipped on human body. The development of flexible and stretchable electronics offers a remedy for such challenge.
This 60-minute Flexinar will first provide an overview for the current development of soft wearable electronics. It will then focus on epidermal electronics or electronic tattoos (e-tattoos), which represent a class of stretchable circuits, sensors, and actuators that are ultrathin, ultrasoft, skin-conformable, and deformable just like a temporary tattoo. Also introduced is a low-cost, dry and freeform “cut-and-paste” method invented by Lu’s lab to fabricate e-tattoos within minutes. This method has been proved to work for thin film metals, polymers, ceramics, as well as 2D materials. Using this method, Lu’s group created the first truly imperceptible e-tattoos based on graphene. Capabilities and advantages of different types of e-tattoos as a platform for continuous vital sign monitoring and human-robot interface (HRI) will be demonstrated, as will Bluetooth and NFC enabled wireless e-tattoo sensors. In addition to sensing, e-tattoos are also capable of transdermal delivery of heat, electrical current, and drugs for wound healing and personalized therapeutics such as diabetes management.
Who Should Attend?
Academics and engineers interested in the design and manufacture of soft wearables or bioelectronics; researchers, medical doctors, nurses, trainers interested in using advanced wearable devices.
Presenter
Professor Nanshu Lu received her Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2009 and spent two years as a Beckman Postdoctoral Fellow at UIUC. She joined University of Texas at Austin in 2011 and became tenured Associate Professor in 2017. Her research is on the mechanics, fabrication, and bio-integration of flexible and stretchable electronics. She has been named TR35 by MIT Technology Review and has received NSF CAREER Award, multiple DOD Young Investigator Awards and 3M Non-Tenured Faculty Award.
When
Wednesday, May 23, 2018
11:00 AM PDT / 2:00 PM EDT