Tattoos are usually considered a form of personal expression, but a team of researchers in Europe they have created what they call the world’s first light-emitting tattoo based on OLED display technology that, in addition to presumably looking great, could also serve as a visible warning about possible health problems.
Tattacks are used by people to show theirs devotion to a brand of MP3 players for a long time or letting everyone know how much they love their mothers. BThere is also a precedent in which tattoos are used as a medical tool. Cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy are tattooed with small dots that are used as reference marks to accurately target the machines that are used for treatments during repeated sessions, e.g..
The idea of personally augmenting the skin with bright art isn’t new either, but previously that involved biohackers implementing technologies such as skin LEDs, and the results have little practical use, in addition to attracting attention or inviting questions about why someone would do this to themselves. This new approach to light-emitting tattoos is easier to apply, more practical and temporary, without the need for surgery to remove it.
In a recent article in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials, “Ultra-fine, ultra-conformable and self-supporting organic light-emitting organic diodes for tattooing“ scientists of the University College London in the United Kingdom and the Italian Institute of Technology detail how their new approach to tattoos is based on the same technology of organic light emitting diodes that appear on devices such as the latest iPhones, as well as the recent culture of mobile devices with folding screens. The flexibility of an OLED display is important for this application because human skin is so flexible and it flexes and folds as the body moves.
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The actual electronics of light-emitting tattoos, made from an extremely thin layer of an electroluminescent polymer that glows when a charge is applied, measures just 2.3 microns thick, which, according to the researchers, makes about one-third the diameter of a red blood cell. The polymer layer is placed between a pair of electrodes and sits on an insulating layer, which attaches to the temporary tattoo paper through a printing process that is not costly prohibitive. Tattoos can be easily applied to surfaces using the same wet transfer process as temporary tattoos designed for children, and can be easily washed when they are no longer needed or wanted with soap and water.
With a current applied, OLED tattoos in their current form simply glow green, but could eventually produce any color using the same RGB approach used by OLED displays. However, while researchers recognize that there is the potential for shiny tattoos, taking this art in a whole new direction, they also see even more potential for them as a medical tool. When combined with other wearable technologies, light-emitting tattos could begin to flicker when an athlete needs to rehydrate or change color when applied to foods that offer obvious warnings when expiration dates have passed.
But don’t walk around your local tattoo parlor and ask for one of those shiny new and shiny tattoos yet. So far, researchers have successfully applied them to surfaces such as glass, plastic bottles, paper and even oranges, but human skin poses a greater challenge given the constant movement of humans. OLED polymers can also degrade rapidly when exposed to air, which requires additional layers to encapsulate and protect them properly, and there is an even bigger problem finding a way to feed them using small batteries or supercapacitors, as before in the laboratory. You have been connected to an external power supply and it is doubtful that anyone would want to connect a USB power cord to the arm ink.