Development of Material That Bruises When Shocked... Will Artificial Skin Emerge?

Development of Next-Generation Stress-Sensitive Materials
Repair Areas Identifiable by Color
850% Sensitivity Improvement Compared to Existing Materials

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] A material that changes color when dull force or impact is applied, similar to human skin, has been developed. It is expected to be used as artificial skin or futuristic wearable material.

Enhancing the Sensitivity of Spiropyran

A diagram showing the chemical structure of the spiropyran (SP) molecular sensor and its conversion to merocyanine in response to force

On the 15th, the research team led by Dr. Jaewoo Kim from the Structural Convergence Materials Research Center at the Jeonbuk branch of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology announced that they have dramatically improved the sensitivity of next-generation stress-responsive materials.

The team significantly enhanced the response sensitivity of spiropyran, a molecular-level substance that reacts to external forces. This material changes its chemical structure and color in response to physical stimuli. When injected into materials such as concrete or silicon, the material itself reacts to force, deformation, or damage by changing color. However, such materials, for example in the case of silicon, showed color changes only after high deformation exceeding 500%, indicating low mechanical sensitivity.

Application in Futuristic Wearables and More

(a) Mechanical sensitivity according to solvent impregnation time (b) Enhanced color expression in tensile, compressive, and bending deformation modes

The research team increased sensitivity by synthesizing the material with spiropyran and then placing it in a specific solvent to undergo a kind of maturation process. By controlling the absorption time through the solvent and observing changes in color and fluorescence of the developed material, they confirmed that longer treatment times improved sensitivity. The newly developed spiropyran-polymer through this process showed a groundbreaking 850% increase in sensitivity compared to existing materials. This effect was successfully observed under various deformations such as tension, compression, and bending.

Dr. Jaewoo Kim said, "Through this research, a process was developed that can dramatically improve the mechanical sensitivity of spiropyran-based stress-responsive smart polymer materials, and the mechanism behind the sensitivity enhancement was identified through analysis."

He added, "Based on this, we plan to focus on applied research for futuristic wearable sensors and artificial skin."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.