The skin is the largest organ in the human body. Our skin is in constant contact with the environment and under some influence, undergoes various actions. Through it and thousands of nerve endings, people can feel temperature, touch, pressure and pain. This is all a view from an ordinary person, but not a scientist. People who are engaged in science and explore the skin, see much more and deeper.
The skin is not only a sensory organ, but also a material. It is flexible, but also stretchable, self-healing and biodegradable. There will be different applications for the electronic second skin in the future, as well as any new technological development in our time… for example, for people who wear prosthetics, touch would improve the quality of life at times, allowing them to distinguish soft from hard and notice sharp or scalding hot before they can cause any damage.
In March 2022, Stanford scientists published a proof of the principle of operation of a light-emitting polymer. Researchers have demonstrated that this device can be worn on the knuckle of a finger and stretch 2 times its length and change shape, while not tearing it. So far, this device can only show a static image with a low resolution, but this is already a good enough step into the future, so to speak, which will allow us to reach the goal, namely, wearable electronics on the body that displays vital signs.
The Silicon Valley startup Pyrams is developing a soft tape, like a second skin, that can be wrapped around the wrist and it can measure, for example, blood pressure, temperature or glucose levels.
The second skin, created by advanced electronics, can allow for the expansion of the application of electronics in areas such as healthcare, sports and military fields by communicating with our human body as artificial human parts. At the same time , of course , there are a lot of BUT…Before the second skin can be fully realized in life, several obstacles must be overcome: the chemical stability of materials must be improved, the electronic characteristics of the device must be improved, electronics must be standardized. and the development of methods for integrating technologies of all components.
In general, the idea of developing a second skin is quite real in the future and many steps and discoveries towards this have already been made, as research and promotion of humanity in the world of technology and artificial intelligence show.
Sources:
https://www.wired.com/story/electronic-second-skins/
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/advs.201900186
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