Scientists Have Invented Light-Up OLED Tattoos (gizmodo.com) 38
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Gizmodo: Tattoos are usually considered a form of personal expression, but a team of researchers in Europe have created what they're calling the world's first light-emitting tattoo based on OLED screen technology that, besides presumably looking kind of cool, could also serve as a visible warning about potential health concerns. In a recently published paper in the Advanced Electronic Materials journal, "Ultrathin, UltraConformable, and FreeStanding Tattooable Organic LightEmitting Diodes," scientists from the University College London in the UK and the Italian Institute of Technology detail how their new approach to tattoos relies on the same organic light-emitting diode technology featured in devices like more recent iPhones, as well as the recent crop of mobile devices featuring folding screens. The flexibility of an OLED display is important for this application given human skin is so pliable and flexes and folds as the body moves.
The actual electronics of the light-emitting tattoos, made from an extremely thin layer of an electroluminescent polymer that glows when a charge is applied, measure in at just 2.3-micrometers thick, which, according to the researchers, is about one-third the diameter of a red blood cell. The polymer layer is then sandwiched between a pair of electrodes and sits atop an insulating layer, which is bonded to temporary tattoo paper through a printing process that isn't prohibitively expensive. The tattoos can be easily applied to surfaces using the same wet transfer process that temporary tattoos designed for kids use, and can be easily washed off when no longer needed or wanted using soap and water.
With a current applied the OLED tattoos in their current form simply glow green, but eventually could produce any color using the same RGB approach that OLED screens use. However, while the researchers acknowledge that the potential for glowing tattoos is there, taking that art in a whole new direction, they also see even more potential for them as a medical tool. When combined with other wearable technologies the light-emitting tattoos could start flashing when an athlete needs to rehydrate, or change color when applied to foods providing obvious warnings when expiration dates have passed. The researchers note that the OLEDs polymers can quickly degrade when exposed to the air, and "there's an even bigger issue of finding a way to power them using tiny batteries or supercapacitors, as so far in the lab they've been wired to an external power source," adds Gizmodo.
The actual electronics of the light-emitting tattoos, made from an extremely thin layer of an electroluminescent polymer that glows when a charge is applied, measure in at just 2.3-micrometers thick, which, according to the researchers, is about one-third the diameter of a red blood cell. The polymer layer is then sandwiched between a pair of electrodes and sits atop an insulating layer, which is bonded to temporary tattoo paper through a printing process that isn't prohibitively expensive. The tattoos can be easily applied to surfaces using the same wet transfer process that temporary tattoos designed for kids use, and can be easily washed off when no longer needed or wanted using soap and water.
With a current applied the OLED tattoos in their current form simply glow green, but eventually could produce any color using the same RGB approach that OLED screens use. However, while the researchers acknowledge that the potential for glowing tattoos is there, taking that art in a whole new direction, they also see even more potential for them as a medical tool. When combined with other wearable technologies the light-emitting tattoos could start flashing when an athlete needs to rehydrate, or change color when applied to foods providing obvious warnings when expiration dates have passed. The researchers note that the OLEDs polymers can quickly degrade when exposed to the air, and "there's an even bigger issue of finding a way to power them using tiny batteries or supercapacitors, as so far in the lab they've been wired to an external power source," adds Gizmodo.
Battery? (Score:2)
Not much of a tattoo if you need to clip a battery to your skin.
Re:Battery? (Score:4, Insightful)
I notice the battery to power these is not mentioned anywhere.
Not much of a tattoo if you need to clip a battery to your skin.
I dunno, many people I know with tattoos seem to be perfectly fine with clipping random pieces of metal to, or through, their bodies.
Re: (Score:3)
Might want to rethink attaching small devices to the interior of the return-path within the cardiovascular system - ie veins. As soon the attachment fails, that device is a few quick seconds away from being your next pulmonary embolism, brain aneurysm or stroke.
And no, the forward path isn't likely to be a much better outcome, unless you like being a blood clot amputee.
Re: (Score:2)
I notice the battery to power these is not mentioned anywhere.
The summary says "as so far in the lab they've been wired to an external power source" ie external battery/power
Lantern fish (Score:2)
Re: Battery? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It is powered by the body/skin itself. Your body is a battery.
Wrong. It is not powered by the body or by the skin.
Cyberpunk (Score:1)
@Cyberpunk: nice to meet you.
Another place to... (Score:2)
..place an AD.
Customizeable logos in your face, stommach, calfs, tricepts - oh the possibilities.
Re: (Score:2)
..place an AD.
Customizeable logos in your face, stommach, calfs, tricepts - oh the possibilities.
Don't forget, having fun getting through TSA ... :-)
Diagnosis: (Score:2)
Bad news: OLED tattoo gave you cancer
Hey Leia, check out my new Lightsaber! (Score:4, Funny)
You know the first body part this will be used on
Re: (Score:1)
Leia: "Ah yes, you probably are his son. Either that, an Ewok."
Re: (Score:2)
Um... Luke was the one with the lightsabre, and she was his sister...
Re: (Score:1)
I don't understand the first part of your statement, but as far as "sister", he didn't know at first.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, exactly what his post title indicates.
Re: (Score:1)
Maybe with biotech of the future, everyone will have both a wanker and a cootch.
Re: (Score:2)
There's a problem with that...
These aren't really tattoos, they're appliques, and with warm friction they will quickly rub off.
Re: (Score:1)
If you are young you probably don't need a lot of time.
Tramp Stamp (Score:2)
Now serving number 12
Re: (Score:2)
That explains it (Score:2)
not a tattoo (Score:3)
It's a sticker. And it wasn't "invented by scientists".
Old slashdot would have never dared to post this drivel.
Nice! (Score:1)
Great, yet another way for a woman to make me go limp.
Time for Carousel! (Score:1)
There is no Sanctuary.
Re: (Score:2)
Countdown clock on the arm.
Implanted chip is not a tattoo (Score:3)
A tattoo implies ink under the skin. Make an OLED e-ink, and you're talking about something that could be called a tattoo. An implanted chip is just that, it's not the same thing.
How about a photo? (Score:2)
The article has photos of chips in a petri dish, but no photos of the thing working as intended. I don't think they really have something yet, or they would be showing what it looks like under the skin.
Re: (Score:2)
Here's a photo [dvdizzy.com].
Have we stopped following evidence based medicine? (Score:1)
heyy (Score:1)
IP theft (Score:1)
Saw these in Wakanda years ago. Agent Ross wasn't just after the vibranium.
"tattoo" (Score:2)
Whew, for a minute there I thought they had ... (Score:1)
... invented OLED tattoos that DIDN'T light up.
Obligatory 20th century meme: In Soviet Russia, OLEDs tattoo YOU!
If they could be programmed on the fly... (Score:2)
I would so love to have one on my forehead that I could program to say things like "You've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a shit."