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nanotimes News in Brief

sure sensor that is the latest sensor developed by Stanford‘s Zhenan Bao, associate professor of che- mical engineering, in her quest to create an artificial “super skin.” The sensor uses a transparent film of SWCNTs that act as tiny springs, enabling the sensor to accurately measure the force on it, whether it‘s being pulled like taffy or squeezed like a sponge.

A

“This sensor can register pressure ranging from a firm pinch between your thumb and forefinger to twice the pressure exerted by an elephant standing on one foot,” said Darren Lipomi, a postdoctoral researcher in Bao‘s lab, who is part of the research team.

n enviable elasticity is one of several new features built into a transparent skin-like pres-

11-10 :: October 2011

Transparent, Super-Stretchy Skin-like Sensor

Darren J. Lipomi, Michael Vosgueritchian, Benjamin C-K. Tee, Sondra L. Hellstrom, Jennifer A. Lee, Courtney H. Fox & Zhenan Bao: Skin-like pressure and strain sensors based on transparent elastic films of carbon nanotubes, In: Nature Nanotechnology AOP, October 23, 2011, DOI:10.1038/ nnano.2011.184:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.184

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_ embedded&v=NJHZylgWeJw

Image/Video: Chemical Engineering postdoctoral fellow Darren Lipomi demonstrates the stretchable, artificial skin in the lab.