Researchers from Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology (SAIT) developed a new stretchable OLED display, that features stable performance and high elongation possibility. Samsung says that this research is the first one to prove the commercialization potential of stretchable devices.
The new stretchable OLED was integrated with a photoplethysmography (PPG) sensor in a single device. The PPG sensor is used to measure the user’s heart rate in real-time - which can be displayed on the OLED display.
The substrate of this prototype display is made from a modified elastomer, a polymer compound which features excellent elasticity and resilience. The team confirmed that the sensor and display continued to operate normally and did not exhibit any performance degradation with elongation of up to 30%, and with more than 1,000 stretch cycles.
Interestingly, the team says that when measuring signals from a moving wrist, the sensor was found to pick up a heartbeat signal that was 2.4 times stronger than would be picked up by a fixed silicon sensor.
