Researchers fabricate chip-free, wireless 'e-skin'

Researchers from MIT, in collaboration with South Korean beauty and cosmetics conglomerate Amorepacific, have developed a chip-less, wireless wearable electronic skin (e-skin) that is sweat-proof and can continuously monitor skin changes over long periods of time. The findings from Professor Kim Jeehwan’s research have been published in the journal Science.

The results follow four years of joint research between Jeehwan’s engineering research team at MIT and researchers at Amorepacific’s R&I Centre in Korea. The key outcome is the development of a conformable e-skin in the form of a breathable patch which is enabled by epitaxial freestanding compound semiconductors. The patches are patterned with artificial human sweat ducts to ensure that sweat permeates through to prevent skin irritation and keep the patch from falling off. The ultra-thin patches also support skin monitoring and data transmission without requiring integrated circuit chips or batteries.

The patches are predicted to completely change the paradigm of e-skins and e-skin research, featuring long-term wearability and power-efficient wireless communication modules with sensors that are sensitive and require no bulky chips or batteries. Compared to other e-skin designs that lack permeability, this e-skin has been proven to accurately measure the wearer’s skin even in demanding environments. This scientific innovation is expected to further fuel the advanced development of cosmetics that can endure harsh conditions of various climates.

Park Young-Ho, Head of Amorepacific’s R&I Centre, said this scientific achievement has played a major role in raising the bar in skin research, with findings and ongoing data that will help the researchers develop new products across all their brands, thereby enabling them to provide customers with scientifically advanced beauty products and skin solutions. “What kick-started this research was a question nagging one of our researchers while on a flight, wondering whether it would be possible to accurately measure how dry and sensitive our skin gets at 35,000ft,” Young-Ho said.

In addition to this development, Amorepacific’s R&I Centre has developed a variety of customised beauty technologies for the global market, including an intelligent tactile sensor capable of measuring skin sensations; a Mind-linked Bathbot that analyses a person’s feelings using brain waves to create a personalised bath bomb by a robot on the spot; and the Myskin Recovery Platform, an integrative platform that lets customers measure daily skin conditions and monitor improvements based on a customised skin solution.

Jeehwan’s research team has developed several source technologies related to single-crystalline compound semiconductor’s ultra-thin film growth and transfer using remote epitaxy. The researchers’ work on remote epitaxy made the cover of Nature in 2017.

Image credit: Courtesy of the MIT researchers.