Samsung Electronics has developed a stretchable organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display that can stick to skin to monitor the body’s vital signs like heartbeat and blood flow.

The company said its R&D unit Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology has successfully integrated a stretchable OLED display with a photoplethysmography sensor into a single device to measure and display the user’s pulse rate in real time.

The research was published in the journal Science Advances last weekend.

Samsung Electronics said its researchers used specially modified elastomer, a polymer with high elasticity and resilience, to make the sensor and display stretchable by up to 30 percent without comprising their performance.

According to Samsung Electronics, an electronic skin with the integrated stretchable sensor and display was attached to the inside of the wrist and it continued to work stably even after it was stretched 1,000 times. Under this system, it is possible to obtain a heart rate signal that is 2.4 times higher than that of a fixed silicon sensor.

The research is the world’s first that shows the viability of a commercial free-form device, which is advanced compared to flexible displays, Samsung said.

By Park Jae-young and Minu Kim

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