The Electronic Tattoo
By Sidra Lackey
The ink for an electronic tattoo is made of liquid metal. Yes, really. The ink also contains carbon nanotubes that work as a bioelectrode. Huh? This means that when a tattoo is drawn on the skin with this ink, it can help monitor heart rates as it creates an electric circuit on the skin, researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon, South Korea report in the July journal of ‘Advanced Materials.’ The team of scientists from KAIST who developed the cutting-edge technology admit the ink is at an early stage still. Steve Park, a materials science and engineering professor at KAIST co-led the team with PhD candidate Lee Gun-hee.
The electronic ink, when connected to an electrocardiogram (ECG) device, can monitor vital health signs, sensors that analyze sweat, as well as acting as heaters for physiotherapy purposes, researchers claim. How was this incredible ink created? Researchers used
liquid-metal particles based on gallium, a soft, silvery metal also used in semiconductors or in thermometers as a non-toxic alternative to mercury. The ink is biocompatible, which means it does not harm living tissue. Is this “super ink” permanent? "When it is applied to the skin, even with rubbing the tattoo doesn't come off, which is not possible with just liquid metal," Park said. But the ink does come off with soap, he reassures.
Park also admits that the ink is limited because it still needs wiring to gather data."In the future, what we hope to do is connect a wireless chip integrated with this ink, so that we can communicate, or we can send a signal back and forth between our bodies to an external device," he says. He and his team of researchers at KAIST are hopeful their electronic tattoo technology will one day give doctors and patients a non-intrusive and personalized way for health to be monitored.
Even though electronic ink isn’t the fun, futuristic type of tattoo ink a tattoo collector would imagine it to be, nevertheless electronic tattoos are a very groundbreaking advancement within the world of science and technology. Here’s to KAIST researchers reaching their game-changing goal.