Engineering researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) have developed the first stretchable integrated circuit that is made entirely using an inkjet printer, raising the possibility of inexpensive mass production of smart fabric.

“We can conceivably make the costs of producing flexible electronics comparable to the costs of printing newspapers. Our work could soon lead to printed displays that can easily be stretched to larger sizes, as well as wearable electronics and soft robotics applications,” said Chuan Wang, Assistant Professor at MSU.

Since the material can be produced on a standard printer, it has a major potential cost-advantage over current technologies that are expensive to manufacture.

According to the researchers, the smart fabric is made up of several materials fabricated from nanomaterials and organic compounds.

“These compounds are dissolved in solution to produce different electronic inks, which are run through the printer to make the devices,” a paper published in the journal ACS Nano noted.

Researchers created an elastic material, the circuit and the organic light-emitting diode, or OLED from the ink.

Researchers estimate that in a year or two, they will be able to combine the circuit and OLED into a single pixel, and once that is done, the smart fabric can be potentially commercialised.

“Conceivably, the stretchable electronic fabric can be folded and put in one’s pocket without breaking. This is an advantage over current ‘flexible’ electronics material technology that cannot be folded,” added Wang.

“We have taken it one big step beyond the flexible screens that are about to become commercially available,” Wang added.

IANS
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Picture used for illustrative purposes alone

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The 13.5-million-euro ($14.5-million) proposal by engineering firm Schlaich Bergermann & Partner and Gergan Marg & Partners architects calls for a curtain membrane that would be extended on cables in case of rain, with minimal visibility when retracted.

Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi said Tuesday that the project could be completed in three years if approved by the cultural ministry in Rome. The Calzedonia fashion group will help with financing.

The project has been beset by concerns over the impact on the ancient structure, the third-largest Roman amphitheater in the world and modern-day concert and opera venue.—AP

Image: Alamy

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One of the authors, Jose Luis Jorcano from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, said this skin replicated the natural structure of the skin with a first external layer, the epidermis with its stratum corneum — which acts as protection against the external environment — together with another thicker and deeper layer called the dermis.

According to the research paper, published in journal Biofabrication, the last layer consists of fibroblasts that produce collagen, the protein that gives elasticity and mechanical strength to the skin.

Bioinks are key to 3D bioprinting. Juan Francisco del Canizo, a Universidad Complutense de Madrid researcher, said: “Knowing how to mix the biological components, in what conditions to work with them so that the cells don’t deteriorate and how to correctly deposit the product is critical to the system.”

The process for producing these tissues can be carried out in two ways: To produce allogeneic skin from a stock of cells, done on a large scale, for industrial processes; and to create autologous skin, which is made case by case from the patient’s own cells, for therapeutic use, such as in the treatment of severe burns.

“We use only human cells and components to produce skin that is bioactive and can generate its own human collagen, thereby avoiding the use of the animal collagen that is found in other methods,” the researchers noted.

This method of bioprinting allows skin to be generated in a standardised, automated way and the process is less expensive than manual production.—IANS

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The portable shelter, that features a solar panel on the roof to power a light and charge a mobile phone, won the 2016 Beazley Design of the Year Award.

Developed by Swedish social enterprise Better Shelter with the United Nations’ refugee agency (UNHCR) and the IKEA Foundation, the weather-proof shelter comes with the tools need for assembly and can be erected in four hours by four people.

Each modular structure, made from recyclable plastic, is large enough to house a family of five.

Better Shelter said it had delivered 16,000 shelters to Iraq, Djibouti, Niger, Ethiopia, Nepal, Greece, Macedonia and Chad.

Johan Karlsson, interim managing director of Better Shelter, said it was with mixed emotions that he accepted the award presented at the Design Museum in London late on Thursday.

“While we are pleased that this kind of design is honoured, we are aware that it has been developed in response to the humanitarian needs that have arisen as the result of the refugee crisis,” he said in a statement.

Other contenders for the award included the cover of Bowie’s Blackstar album, which won best graphic design of the year, and OpenSurgery, which replaces operating theatres with a robot armed with a laser cutter and 3D printer.—The Thomson Reuters Foundation

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