Stretchable hydrogel offers new medical application potential

A stretchy gel-like material that can incorporate temperature sensors, LED lights and other electronics has been developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The new smart wound dressing is also able to contain tiny drug-delivering reservoirs and channels, releasing medicine in response to changes in skin temperature, or lighting up if the supply of medicine is running low.

It is made of a rubbery material mostly composed of water and is designed to bond strongly to surfaces such as gold, titanium, aluminum, silicon, glass, and ceramics. Even when applied to a flexible part of the body, such as a joint, it is able to stretch while keeping the embedded electronics functional and intact.

Conductive wires, semiconductor chips, LED lights and temperature sensors have all been successfully integrated into the material. It is believed that it may be used not just on the surface of the skin, but also inside the body.

Xuanhe Zhao, an associate professor at MIT's department of mechanical engineering, said: "We are proposing to use robust hydrogel as an ideal material for neural devices, because the hydrogel can be designed to possess similar mechanical and physiological properties as the brain."