Ultra-Flexible "Ionic E-Skin" for Direct Communication Between Biological Systems and Electronics

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Although the original project to develop a new type of "e-skin” (ionic e-skin) that can bridge the gap between electronic and biological systems is not yet complete, the Fellow was able to make a side discovery while in pursuit of the original goal. Specifically, the Fellow discovered a strategy for making ultraflexible, stretchable color filters. Not only do these color filters possess mechanical properties superior to all previous literature examples, they also remarkably show no performance degradation even after repeated deformation. Although it was not the original objective that we were aiming for, in reality these results were significant for two main reasons. First, although numerous examples of ultraflexible sensors reliant on optical phenomena and wearable devices containing optical elements exist, color filters with matching mechanical properties did not yet exist. As color filters are simple yet highly-relevant in many technologies, the invention of an extremely deformable color filter opens up possibilities for use where unusual form factors or integration with ultraflexible optical devices is necessary. Second, the discovered strategy is not just limited to the demonstrates materials used. Rather, the strategy represents a generalized method and can be used with any combination of materials that adheres to the underlying principles of the method. As a result, we were able to produce one publication (Ordinario et. al., Adv. Opt. Mater. 2018, 6, 1800851) and present the work at an international conference (MRS Fall Meeting and Exhibit 2018, Boston, MA, USA).