"E-Skin That Changes Color Like a Chameleon"

"Electronic skin, or “e-skin,” is a paper-thin, strong, flexible material designed to mimic the functions of human skin, such as sensitivity to pressure and temperature. Professor Zhenan Bao and her team of researchers at Stanford University have been investigating and improving on e-skin since 2008."

Dr. Ho-Hsiu Chou is a postdoctoral scholar of Zhenan Bao’s research group, and first author of the study. He explains that this is the first time that the three features of touch-sensitivity, stretchability, and color changing have been combined. This color change capability is a particular step up from light-up e-skin because the material can maintain a color change without consuming power...

Chou envisions this technology used “in smartphones and watches and clothing, because the material we use is soft and stretchable. By integrating with this color-changeable e-skin, you can imagine that all the colors can be integrated into one device, and the user can change it interactively for decoration or to express emotion.”