ENTEG Guest Seminar by Dr. Virgilio Mattoli: Ultra-thin freestanding polymeric films for temporary tattoo electronics

ENTEG Guest Seminar by Dr. Virgilio Mattoli

The increasing demand for portable and ubiquitous electronic applications generated a great interest in the new emerging conformable electronics, able to adhere and conform to skin or other tissues and surfaces. Targeted applications include wearable electronics, human-machine interfacing, conformable electrode for bio-electric signals, as well as personal healthcare monitoring systems. Despite of the huge progresses in flexible, stretchable and conformable electronics achieved in the last two decades, real-life applications are not yet fully achieved. In this framework, functional freestanding polymeric nanofilms could be a key technology for the development of effective ultra-conformable devices. Freestanding nanofilms are large area (square cm) ultra-thin (tens-hundreds of nm) polymeric films, showing as an intrinsic property the capability to adhere and conform spontaneously to surfaces due to physical interactions (i.e. Van Der Waals), making possible the intimate contact between such films and virtually any surface, including skin. In this talk the last achievements obtained by our group in this field will be reviewed, with particular focus on the use of freestanding and tattoo-like ultrathin dielectric and conjugated polymeric films for assembling/developing of conformable electronic (passive and active) components and circuits. Final objective of our research is the development of ultra-thin yet robust complete circuits that can be used as free-standing nano-membranes, easily transferred to surfaces with complex topographies, such as skin (e.g., “tattoo electronics”)