A local professor is advancing the field of stretchable electronics.
University of Windsor Professor Simon Rondeau-Gagne is creating electronic materials that can be stretched without cracking. So far, he has succeeded in developing a skin-like finger-wearable driver that controls light emitting devices.
The device can be stretched without affecting electronic transistors.
Transistors control signals sent through electronic devices. Without a transistor, devices such as cell phones and computers would not work at all.
Rondeau-Gagne says the development of this new technology is still in its early stages.
"There is not a lot of research going on right now in these areas," says Rondeau-Gagne. "So, we are really at the forefront and at the beginning of a new type of research I would say. So every type of testing, every type of synthesis or design is always new."
Rondeau-Gagne says there are a variety of challenges researchers must overcome for the technology to work.
"These devices will have to be stretchable and flexible and also have cell feeling if you want to use them first in the body or any type of harsh environment," says Rondeau-Gagne. "You also want them to be biodegradable and biocompatible."
Rondeau-Gange is recruiting graduate students for his research team.