US researchers develop smart skin that changes shape and texture

The shape-changing skin. PIC COURTESY/Penn University

US researchers have developed a synthetic "smart skin" that can change its appearance, texture, and shape when exposed to heat, liquids, or mechanical stress.

The team used a novel 4D-printing method to create this adaptive material. The smart skin is made from a hydrogel - a soft, water-rich polymer - and incorporates digitally encoded instructions that define how it should respond to external cues.

The researchers "halftone-encoded printing", which embeds patterns into the material that determine how different regions swell, soften, or change texture when stimulated. This lets the material dynamically alter its optical appearance and surface structure.

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