Now, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley have designed an electronic skin that does actually does this: Super-thin and flexible, the skin lights up when touched. More pressure produces a brighter light, the team reports July 21 in Nature Materials.
Thinner than a sheet of paper, the skin is made from layers of plastic and a pressure-sensitive rubber. A conductive silver ink, organic LEDs, and thin-film transistors made from semiconductor-enriched carbon nanotubes are sandwiched between the layers. Applying pressure sends a signal through the rubber that ultimately turns on the LEDs, which light up in red, green, yellow or blue.
via Wired
July 22, 2013
