Wearable Electronics: An Imperceptible Magnetic Skin (Adv. Mater. Technol. 10/2019)

Abstract

Flexible and wearable magnetoelectronics add intriguing new functionalities to our natural perception. Of particular interest regarding these artificial skins are wireless sensing and touchless interactions. Biocompatibility and imperceptibility are the most significant features of wearable devices attached to our bodies. In this work, a biocompatible magnetic skin is introduced. It offers extreme flexibility, stretchability (>300%), and lightweight while maintaining a remanent magnetization up to 360 mT. The magnetic skin is comfortable to wear, can be realized in any desired shape or color, and adds tunable permanent magnetic properties to the surface it is applied to. It provides remote control functions and combined with magnetic sensors; it implements a complete wearable magnetic system. For example, eye tracking is realized by attaching the magnetic skin to the eyelid. The advantage that it does not require any wiring makes it an extremely viable solution for soft robotics and human-machine interactions. Wearing the magnetic skin on a finger or integrated

A Review on Magnetic Smart Skin as Human–Machine Interfaces

“…These undetectable magnetoelastomer enable gesture control in a variety of forms and provide remote operation options for a wide range of applications. [27,32] Typically, the magnetoelastomer is composed of an elastic matrix and permanent magnetic substances. The elastic matrix materials can be PDMS or Ecoflex.…”

“…The viability of cells growing on PDMS and Ecoflex remains very high, as evaluated using the PrestoBlue cell viability assay and the LIVE/DEAD fluorescence staining method, which indicated the great biocompatibility of the two materials. [27] In the next section, we shall discuss separately the development of the source of magnetic field, the structure of magnetoelastomers, and their applications.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [27] Copyright 2019, Wiley-VCH GmbH. b) Magnetic cilia Reproduced with permission.…”

“…Also, the utilization of magnetic films in this field has grown significantly and has become a major direction in recent years. For example, in 2018, Almansouri et al proposed an imperceptible magnetic skin for contactless HMI, [27] after that, many works used the magnetic film for wheelchair control, [54] eye movement recognition, [40] and catheter tracking. [60,61] The film structures focus on the large-area sensing and contactless HMI.…”

“…Magnetic smart skin is part of the rapidly progressing field of flexible electronics, which has brought forward different types of magnetoelastomer, [23][24] sensors (such as flexible magnetic tunnel junctions, flexible giant magneto-resistance sensors, and flexible hall sensors) [25,26] and magnetic skins. [24,27] These magnetic smart skins pave the way for a new path in human perceptual development, as they may form a new perception, also known as magnetic sense, that is, the capacity to detect and interact with magnetic fields. This opens up new avenues for research into how humans perceive the world.…”