While a whole industry has developed in the last few years focused on wearable electronics, a promising new approach may eclipse it thanks to flexible electronics that can stay attached directly to the skin. We’ve been reporting on a number of advancements in this new field, many of which have been the work of John A. Rogers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Now Dr. Rogers and a team of international researchers have reported in the journal Small on a new highly flexible skin-like patch that transmits data using near field communication (NFC).

Coupled with sensor elements, the device should be able to transmit interesting biomedical information to any tablet/smartphone equipped with NFC capabilities.

The systems include stretchable coils and thinned NFC chips on thin, low modulus stretchable adhesives, to allow seamless, conformal contact with the skin and simultaneous capabilities for wireless interfaces to any standard, NFC-enabled smartphone, even under extreme deformation and after/during normal daily activities.

Source:Epidermal Electronics