Elastic Electronics

Introduction

From bendable cell phone displays to medical implants that move with the body, possibilities of stretchable electronics are endless. But this has remained a tall order as stretching a conductive material reduces its conductivity. But now an elastic conductor has been developed using gold nanoparticles and stretchy polyurethane. The new material is like an elastic metal. When it is stretched, the gold nano-particles rearrange themselves in a chain form in the polyurethane matrix. This makes the material stretchable as well as electrically conductive.

Source

Down to Earth, August 2013