Artificial muscles are one of the most important applications of flexible electronic structure technology. Artificial muscles are designed to serve as an electronic device capable of accommodating printed circuits yet, at the same time, capable of moving with human muscles. Aside from their obvious uses, artificial muscles may also be used as sensors for the evaluation and monitoring of muscle and tissue activities and conditions.

Studies and developments on the flexible electronics technology are being made and undertaken by researchers from the University of Illinois together with the researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory of the United States Department of Energy.

History

The project's development and research began at the University of Illinois located at Urbana-Champaign. Working on this project are John A. Rogers and his associates and colleagues including Yugang Sun. Yugang Sun, an Argonne scientist, is credited with the conceptualization of the flexible electronics idea.

The project has stepped-up since its initial inception. The research team came to Argonne in August in the year 2006. Argonne opened its Center for Nanoscale materials and was able to aid in the betterment and development of the technology because of the tools and facilities that are available for the team's use. The financial support provided by the Office of Basic Energy Science of the United States Department of Energy also helped a lot in the project's progress.

How It WorksArtificial Muscles

The flexible electronic structures are made to act like thin silicon ribbons. They are made in such a way that they behave like accordions. They are capable of expanding, contracting and bending while still retaining their functions as an electronic device. These accordion-like characteristics make them perfect for applications like artificial muscles; it is because of their flexibility that they can move along with the movements of their immediate environment such as the human muscles.

Flexible electronics technology development is geared towards the production of a single-crystalline semiconductor which will have the characteristics of nanoribbons and on which a geometrical and stretchable configuration of circuits will be embedded. This configuration takes into account the surface chemistries that should be used as well as the types of materials that will make the system function well in a specific application.

Such a development and advancement will ultimately lead to the production of high performance and high quality stretchable electronics that are durable enough to withstand deformation yet are flexible enough to bend, contract and expand without breakage, breakdown, or interruption.

Applications

The main application of the flexible electronics structure technology is envisioned to be in the field of medicine, particularly biomedical technology. The flexibility of flexible electronics structures make them ideal for use in applications involving human muscles. They are ideal as artificial muscles and they'd also make good human muscle sensors or diagnostic tools.

Flexible electronics may also have applications in the field of energy generation and monitoring. Specifically, they are will make accurate hydrogen sensors. Other possible uses for flexible electronics include hemispherical electronic eye imagers and smart surgical gloves sensors.