title: Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for optical signaling and tactile sensing.
abstract: Cephalopods such as octopuses have a combination of a stretchable skin and color-tuning organs to control both posture and color for visual communication and disguise. We present an electroluminescent material that is capable of large uniaxial stretching and surface area changes while actively emitting light. Layers of transparent hydrogel electrodes sandwich a ZnS phosphor-doped dielectric elastomer layer, creating thin rubber sheets that change illuminance and capacitance under deformation. Arrays of individually controllable pixels in thin rubber sheets were fabricated using replica molding and were subjected to stretching, folding, and rolling to demonstrate their use as stretchable displays. These sheets were then integrated into the skin of a soft robot, providing it with dynamic coloration and sensory feedback from external and internal stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Peele
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.affiliation: Center for Micro-BioRobotics@SSSA, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, I-56025 Pontedera, Italy.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Totaro
authors.affiliation: Center for Micro-BioRobotics@SSSA, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, I-56025 Pontedera, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beccai
authors.affiliation: Center for Micro-BioRobotics@SSSA, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, I-56025 Pontedera, Italy.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mazzolai
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Shepherd
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D020724:Elastomers / Q000737:chemistry*; D025802:Electric Capacitance; D004566:Electrodes; D056228:Feedback, Sensory; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate; D049449:Luminescence; D049831:Octopodiformes; D012371:Robotics; D012867:Skin / Q000737:chemistry*; D014110:Touch
chemical_list: D020724:Elastomers; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate