Stretchable E-Skin Apexcardiogram Sensor.

A new strategy to measure the apex cardiogram with electronic skin technology is presented. An electronic skin apexcardiogram sensor, which can compensate the conventional electrocardiogram for cardiac diagnosis, is demonstrated through a highly sensitive and stretchable strain sensor with gold-nanoparticle composites.

Large-Area Accurate Position Registry of Microparticles on Flexible, Stretchable Substrates Using Elastomer Templates.

This work introduces a robust means for excellent position registry of microparticles via a forced assembly technique on flexible or stretchable substrates. It is based on the dry powder rubbing process which allows assembly of a microparticle monolayer in a short time without requiring any solvent or thermal treatment. Elastic physical templates are used as substrates for the forced assembly in this study. Since the elastic templates can reduce the stress accumulation between the closely packed particles, they can minimize the defect formation in the particle assembly in large areas. The method can be used with powders comprising irregularly shaped particles with a relatively large size distribution that cannot be periodically ordered by conventional self-assembly. Furthermore, a non-closely packed particle array can be fabricated readily in large area, which is highly desirable for practical uses of the particle monolayers. The particle monolayers formed on the elastomer templates can be transferred to surfaces coated with thermoplastic block copolymers. Once transferred, the particle monolayers are flexible and stretchable over their entire surface. This work uses the particle monolayers on a large-area flexible substrate as photomasks to produce various photoresist patterns.

Structural color painting by rubbing particle powder.

Structural colors originate from purely physical structures. Scientists have been inspired to mimic the structures found in nature, the realization of these structures still presents a great challenge. We have recently introduced unidirectional rubbing of a dry particle powder on a rubbery surface as a quick, highly reproducible means to fabricate a single crystal monolayer assembly of particles over an unlimited area. This study extends the particle-rubbing process to a novel fine-art painting, structural color painting (SCP). SCP is based on structural coloring with varying iridescence according to the crystal orientation, as controlled by the rubbing direction. This painting technique can be applied on curved surfaces, which enriches the objects to be painted and helps the painter mimic the structures found in nature. It also allows for quick fabrication of complicated particle-assembly patterns, which enables replication of paintings.