New Synthetic Polymers As The First Step In Creating Wearable Electronics

New synthetic polymers as the first step in creating wearable electronics

06-Apr-17

Simon Rondeau-Gagne’s University of Windsor lab is involved in researching new synthetic polymers as the first step in creating wearable electronics. With his expertise in designing synthetic materials, Rondeau-Gagne joins with Professor Tricia Carmichael, who already has a well-established international reputation for her contribution in the stretchable electronics field, for this current research. “My team’s strength is we’re good at building things and working with different materials and integrating them into stretchable electronics that are stable and maintain their functionality,” Carmichael said. "Simon is an expert in synthesizing different materials and designing them for different functions. Together we can do stuff that no one has ever done before.”

Apart from smart clothing that are capable of real time monitoring of the body’s condition, Rondeau-Gagne visualizes possibilities such as new materials in car doors that self-repair after being dented or stretchable electronics helping re-establish the electrical impulse connections in a damaged spinal cord.
The first step is for Rondeau-Gagne to locate the precise material. Rondeau-Gagne explained that the efforts of his research team of six students are similar to constructing a foundation for stretchable electronics. Rondeau-Gagne says “The material I’m working with looks like ink, but when it’s solid it looks like blue plastic. It makes a film, but it’s only 40 Nano-millimeters thick.” Rondeau-Gagne already has already managed to create a polymer comprising of transistors that could be ‘re-healed’ with heat.
He aims to quickly complete development of self-healing materials that do not require an external stimulus to allow Carmichael to use her skill in stretchable electronics.
In fact Carmichael’s team has already developed a new type of rubber. It is clear and impermeable to gases and was a variation of the rubber used to line the inner side of car tires. “What we were able to do is develop a transparent version of this material,” Carmichael said. “That means we make displays to use in it.” However, the eventual goal is to locate a synthetic compound that can take repeated use, is more stretchable, self-repairs, and can endure the heat produced by the transistors and circuitry placed within it. "We already have materials that can be stretched 100%. However, even if it can stretch 10,000 per cent, if it can’t be stretched more than a couple times without the circuit breaking, we can’t use it. There’s going to be pressure and stretching all the time with wearable electronics.” Rondeau-Gagne said.