Graphene, flexible and stretchable, suitable for wearables
Research on carrying/wearing/attaching/implanting/embedding in the human body is in progress
COVID-19 Increases Demand for Wearables, Activates Research


Graphene is a material composed of a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb shape on a two-dimensional plane.

It is thin, has high transmittance, is flexible, stretchable, and has high electrical and thermal conductivity. The raw material, carbon, is abundant in nature and is inexpensive. And it can be manufactured in high quality and large areas through thermal chemical vapor deposition (Thermal CVD).

According to the above characteristics, graphene can be applied to flexible transparent touch panels, flexible displays, wearable devices, flexible transparent electromagnetic shielding materials, flexible transparent electrostatic discharge prevention films, flexible transparent heating materials, flexible transparent heat dissipation materials, nano bio-molecule device materials, etc.

Wearable devices have attracted a lot of attention in the graphene field recently. Graphene's flexibility, stretchability, and high electrical conductivity have the potential to meet the requirements for miniaturization, flexibility, stretchability, and low power consumption associated with the comfort of wearable devices.

Kim Wan-su, a professor in the Department of Industrial Convergence at Korea University of Technology and Education, contributed an article titled “Trends in Graphene-based Wearable Device Technology” to the 1958th issue of the “Weekly Technology Trends of the Information and Communications Technology Planning and Evaluation Institute (IITP),” introducing recent trends in the technology development of graphene-based wearable devices.


◇ Material examples for graphene-based wearable devices

In 2017, a research team from Seoul National University and LG Electronics applied graphene to improve electrical electromagnetic wave shielding and reduce dehydration related to gas impermeability, showing its potential as a material for wearable devices such as functional contact lenses that absorb electromagnetic waves and emit them as thermal radiation while reducing gas permeation such as moisture.

In 2020, the UNIST research team directly integrated polyimide onto graphene to improve durability, including mechanical flexibility and bendability, and confirmed its potential as a material for flexible and lightweight wearable devices such as organic solar cells.

In 2020, a joint research team from Konkuk University and Hanyang University implemented capacitor formation and capacitive pressure sensing using graphene electrodes with the aim of improving sensitivity even for minute contact and reducing crosstalk between devices, and glimpsed the possibility of using it as a material for body-attachable healthcare wearable devices such as ultra-sensitive transparent tactile sensors.

In 2020, the KIST research team applied graphene materials to improve mechanical elasticity and identified the possibility of using them as materials for wearable devices that attach to the body, such as extendable lithium-ion batteries.

Professor Kim Wan-su said that this possibility is due to graphene. It was advised that this would be realized by sufficient quality and productivity improvements and the marketability of the wearable device.


◇ Case study of components for graphene-based wearable devices

To improve the wearing comfort of wearable devices, flexible and stretchable components such as batteries, heaters, sensors, and displays using the materials mentioned above are required.

In the battery sector, in 2020, a UNIST research team directly integrated polyimide onto graphene to improve durability, including mechanical flexibility and bendability, and confirmed its potential as a component for wearable devices such as organic solar cells.

In addition, in 2020, the KIST research team identified the possibility of applying graphene materials to improve mechanical elasticity as components for wearable devices such as stretchable lithium-ion batteries.

In terms of heaters, a research team at Seoul National University installed graphene heaters in winter clothing in 2017 for the purposes of reducing power consumption, uniform temperature distribution, flexibility, light weight, thinness, and high thermal conductivity, and confirmed their potential as components for wearable devices such as winter clothing.

In the sensor sector, a joint research team from Konkuk University and Hanyang University demonstrated potential as a component for wearable devices such as ultra-sensitive transparent tactile sensors in 2020 by forming a capacitor with graphene electrodes and implementing capacitive pressure sensing to improve sensitivity even for minute contact and reduce crosstalk between devices.

miIn 2019, a research team at the California Institute of Technology confirmed the possibility of applying plastic sheets with a 3D graphene structure as components for wearable devices attached to the human body, such as sweat and stress sensors, for the purpose of low-cost and mass production.

In the display sector, in 2012, the Google research team demonstrated the potential of this system as a component for wearable devices such as Google Glass by applying a projection type display system that combined an LCoS (Liquid Crystal on Silicon) micro display and an FFC (Field Sequential Color) implementation for the purposes of embedded and miniaturized implementation and low power consumption.

Professor Kim Wan-su said that component technologies for graphene-based wearable devices, such as batteries, heaters, sensors, and displays, are based on material technologies for wearable devices, and that further diverse research is needed for wearable devices to develop to the point of commercialization in the future.


◇ Graphene-based wearable devices used to stop epidemics

Professor Kim Wan-soo advised that in order for graphene-based wearable devices to continue to develop, there needs to be close cooperative development between the technological supply and value chains, including graphene itself, materials for graphene-based wearable devices, components for graphene-based wearable devices, and graphene-based wearable devices, which are technologically closely related.

The COVID-19 pandemic is further increasing the feasibility of graphene-based wearable devices. In response to COVID-19, technology and product development for wearable devices are being conducted more actively than before.

Philips, Oura, LifeSignals, and others are currently developing and testing graphene-based wearable devices for the purpose of predicting/detecting/detecting COVID-19 infections. If these efforts continue, the market share of graphene-based wearable device products, materials, and parts, as well as wearable devices as a whole, is expected to increase further.