Samsung creates “ultra-stretch” electronic skin that detects and displays heartbeats

The South Korean company, “Samsung”, announced the development of a “OLED” screen for human skin, equipped with a built-in heart rate monitor, and it has a flexibility of up to 30% extending in length.

According to a statement by “Samsung”, its new invention provides an early stage of the most accurate measurements of currently available wearable devices, for longer periods of time.

The electronics giant is convinced that its experiments could pave the way for the commercialization of stretchable devices with large, high-resolution screens that are expected to appear in all kinds of healthcare products.

And as detailed in a new peer-reviewed study in Science Advances, a team of researchers from Samsung’s R&D Center has created a wearable device with a flexible screen that provides stable measurements, even after it’s stretched 1,000 times its length. natural.

In the past, it was customary for most devices with a fixed shape to break down or collapse under this huge amount of physical stretch, but “Sasung” overcame this technical obstacle by replacing the plastic material used in the current rubber displays with “elastomer”, an advanced material with high flexibility. , then modified its molecular structure in order to enhance its heat resistance and relieve stress caused by elongation, allowing the semiconductor to be incorporated into its device.

The research team at Samsung also applied a stretchable electrode material (cracked metal) that resists deformation of the elastomer region.

Samsung's stretchable electronic 'skin' can detect and display your heartbeat https://t.co/OtapCKaxQM pic.twitter.com/bzC64m08LK

— Zyite (@ZyiteGadgets) June 7, 2021

By successfully making the elastomer more resistant to chemicals and heat, the team says it has effectively demonstrated that stretchable devices can be fitted with health-tracking sensors and semiconductors, similar to those found inside current wearables, such as the Apple Watch.

By improving their quality, the researchers claim that their flexible devices better adapt to movement by attaching them to the wearer’s skin, and this makes it possible to make continuous and accurate measurements of the heartbeat.

During their experiments, the scientists found that wrist movement caused no deterioration in the performance of their technology, even with the device stretched by up to 30%. Fixed silicon sensor.