An Overview of Material Solutions to Solve Self-Healing and Economic Challenges in the Development of Electronic Skin

Human skin allows us to experience sensations by converting physical contact and movement into interpretable electrical impulses for the nervous system to read through specialized neurons called mechanoreceptors.Electronic skin (e-skin) attempts to emulate this process by creating a network of flexible materials that generate electrical feedback like mechanoreceptors.E-skin material choice is diverse, as each material has unique properties that the e-skin inherits.Thus, material choice is paramount in developing e-skin to solve challenges.As a result, this review explores challenges in e-skin development and material innovations to solve challenges with self-healing and sustainable e-skin development.This review will analyze and compare different materials used in recent research to determine the kinds of materials for researchers to prioritize in future research.Developing commercially sustainable e-skin with self-healing ability will lead to breakthroughs in medicine, intelligent robotics, augmented reality, and more.