Image Courtesy: Engadget
Samsung, in addition to its next-generation foldable screens with new form factors, is developing displays that are far more flexible than ever. The Korean business claims to have invented an OLED skin display with a built-in heartbeat monitor that can be expanded by up to 30% as part of its newest achievement.
According to Samsung, the early-stage technology gives more precise measures over longer periods of time than existing wearables. Notably, the electronics behemoth believes that its trials will pave the path for the commercialization of stretchable devices with huge, high-resolution screens, which it anticipates will appear in a variety of healthcare goods.
A team of researchers from the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT), the company’s R&D hub, created a wearable with a flexible screen that provides stable measurements even after being stretched 1,000 times, as detailed in a new peer-reviewed study published in the journal Science Advances.
Most fixed-form gadgets, as expected, break down or come apart when subjected to such strong physical manipulation. To overcome this technological barrier, the researchers replaced the plastic substance used in previous stretchy displays with elastomer – a high elasticity and resilience advanced material. They then changed its chemical makeup to increase its heat resistance and reduce stress produced by elongation, allowing them to include a semiconductor into their device.
The team also put a stretchy electrode material (cracked metal) to the elastomer region, which resists deformation. According to Yeongjun Lee, this “enabled the gaps and connecting electrodes between the pixels to extend and shrink without deforming the OLED pixels themselves.”
The team claims that by making the elastomer more resistant to chemicals and heat, they’ve successfully proved that stretchy devices can be outfitted with health-tracking sensors and semiconductors comparable to those present in contemporary wearables like the Apple Watch.
Going one step further, they say that their flexible technology responds to movement better by adhering to the wearer’s skin. Continuous heartbeat measurements with a higher degree of sensitivity are now achievable. During their experiments, they discovered that wrist movement had no effect on performance, even when the gadget was extended by up to 30%.
