Extremely durable electrical impedance tomography–based soft and ultrathin wearable e-skin for three-dimensional tactile interfaces

A collaborative research team led by Professor Ki-Joon Yoo from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Professor Jongbaek Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed the world's first ultra-thin, highly durable electronic skin. The team fabricated a 50 μm-thick ultra-thin electronic skin by integrating multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with stretchable silicone and utilized electrical impedance tomography (EIT) to monitor internal conductivity changes in real time. This innovation achieved high durability and stable operation, successfully demonstrating its performance in various human-machine interfaces (HMI), such as drone control. This research overcomes the limitations of complex multi-channel array structures by integrating computational engineering techniques to create high-performance electronic skin resembling human skin. It represents a significant contribution to the advancement of next-generation HMI technologies. The findings were published on September 20, 2024, in Science Advances (Impact Factor: 11.7), a leading journal in interdisciplinary research, and were featured in various news media.

The link: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr1099
            https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/25281165
            https://www.ytn.co.kr/_ln/0105_202410172304360136