Tattoos are usually considered a form of personal expression, but a team of researchers from Europe they created what they call the world’s first light-emitting tattoo based on OLED screen technology that, in addition to probably looking kind of cool, could also serve as a visible warning about potential health problems.
Tattoos are used by people to show them devotion to a long-lost brand of MP3 player or let everyone know how much they love their mothers. BThere is also a precedent for the use of tattoos as a medical tool. Cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy are tattooed with small dots that are used as reference marks to accurately target machines used for treatment during repeated sessions, e.g..
The idea of personally enhancing the skin with a shiny art is nothing new, but previously it involved biohackers that implement technologies such as LEDs under the skin, and the results do not have much practical use other than attracting attention or inviting questions about why someone would do this for themselves. This new approach to light-emitting tattoos is easier to apply, more practical and temporary – without the need for surgery to remove it.
In a recent paper in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials, “Ultra-thin, ultra-conformable and self-supporting tattooed organic diodes that emit organic light, ” scientists from University College London in the UK and the Italian Institute of Technology detail how their new approach to tattoos is based on the same organic technology with light emitting diodes featured in devices like newer iPhones, as well as the recent harvest of mobile devices with foldable screens. The flexibility of an OLED display is important for this application, given that human skin is so flexible and flexes and folds as the body moves.
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The actual electronics of light-emitting tattoos, made of an extremely thin layer of electroluminescent polymer that glows when a load is applied, measure just 2.3 micrometers thick, which, according to researchers, is about a third the diameter of a cell. blood red. The polymer layer is then sandwiched between a pair of WIRES and stands above an insulating layer, which is tied to the temporary tattoo paper through a printing process that is not prohibitively expensive. Tattoos can be easily applied to surfaces using the same wet transfer process as temporary tattoos designed for children and can be easily washed when they are no longer needed or desired using soap and water.
With an applied current, OLED tattoos in their current form simply glow green, but in the end they could produce any color using the same RGB approach that OLED screens use. However, while researchers recognize that there is the potential for shiny tattoos, taking that art in a whole new direction, they see even more potential for them as a medical tool. When combined with other wearable technologies, light-emitting tattoos could begin to blink when an athlete needs to rehydrate or change color when applied to food, providing obvious warnings when expiration dates have passed.
But don’t walk into the local tattoo parlor and ask for one more of those shiny new tattoos. Researchers have so far successfully applied them to surfaces such as glass, plastic bottles, paper and even oranges, but human skin is a bigger challenge, given how much people move constantly. OLED polymers can degrade quickly when exposed to air, requiring additional layers to properly encapsulate and protect them, and there is an even greater problem finding a way to power them using small batteries or supercapacitors, such as now in the lab I have been connected to an external power supply and it is doubtful that anyone will want to attach a USB power cable to the ink on the arms.