Samsung has developed an organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display, which is attachable to skin and stretches according to bodily movement.
Expected to be a major help in wearable health devices, the South Korean company said that the elastic technology can be used for wearable devices that monitors and displays a person’s heartbeat along with other biometric data in real-time. As OLED display acts more like a part of the skin, it will help to monitor and measure biometric data for a longer time without having to remove the solution even during sleep or exercise. The device can be expanded to use in healthcare wearable products for adults, children and infants. It can also be used by patients with certain diseases.
The research was published in the joural ‘Science Advances’ on Friday. It is the world’s first research that shows the viability of such a device based on the stretchable display technology.
Samsung developed the displays in its in-house R&D unit – the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, after successfully integrating a stretchable display with a photoplethysmography sensor into a single device.
Co-author of the paper and Principal researcher Yun Young-jun said, “The strength of this technology is that it allows you to measure your biometric data for a longer period without having to remove the device when you sleep or exercise, since the path feels like part of your skin.”
The company said that the research is industry’s first which proves the commercialization potential of stretchable devices, given that the technology is capable of being integrated with existing semiconductor processes.
The Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology team was able to modify the composition and structure of an elastomer, which is a polymer compound with excellent elasticity and resilience, and use existing semiconductor manufacturing processes to apply it to the substrates of stretchable OLED displays and optical blood flow sensors. The team also confirmed that the sensor and display continued to operate normally and did not exhibit any performance degradation up to a 30% increase in size from its static form.
The team hopes to expand its applications by incorporating its stretchable sensors and high-resolution freeform displays.
