头足类动物的皮肤，如章鱼的皮肤高度灵活并且包含有变色细胞。这些细胞含有色素，能够快速伪装。Larson等人开发一种人造皮肤，它能伸展、感测压力并发光，其所表现出的是一种在某些如章鱼等头足类动物皮肤中所见的多功能水平。这样一种人造皮肤可被用于会改变形状和颜色显示的软性电子器件和机器人。由Chris Larson和同事所设计的这一关键性研发产品是一种使用2个埋置在硅胶基质中的离子水凝胶电极的超弹性发光电容器（HLEC）。为了能显示不同的颜色，该基质含有掺杂有各种过渡金属的硫化锌；这些过渡金属可在通电时发射不同波长的光。例如，在有铜时可产生蓝光，有镁时则可产生黄光。对该材料弹性的测试揭示，其表面积可延展约500%，这时外部连线才会与水凝胶电极脱离接触。由于电容器是以一种板状构造陈列的，因此它们还能充当可探测因压力和拉伸所致变形的驱动传感器。研究人员用该材料制造了一个3腔室机器人，它的顶层有该新近研发的“皮肤”层，而其下方的可充气层则允许其活动。随着这些腔室的线性扩张，该机器人会像蠕虫样扭动地向前移动。根据期望的结果，作者们提出了几种不同的基于这一技术进行建造的方法；例如或能通过使用不同类型的多聚物来达到更好的视觉分辨率。

摘要速递：

Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for optical signaling and tactile sensing

Science 

04 Mar 2016

DOI: 10.1126/science.aac5082 

Make it stretch, make it glowThe skins of some cephalopods, such as the octopus, are highly flexible and contain color-changing cells. These cells are loaded with pigments that enable rapid and detailed camouflaging abilities. Larson et al. developed a stretchable electroluminescent actuator. The material could be highly stretched, could emit light, and could also sense internal and external pressure. A soft robot demonstrated these combined capabilities by stretching and emitting light as it moved.

Cephalopods such as octopuses have a combination of a stretchable skin and color-tuning organs to control both posture and color for visual communication and disguise. We present an electroluminescent material that is capable of large uniaxial stretching and surface area changes while actively emitting light. Layers of transparent hydrogel electrodes sandwich a ZnS phosphor-doped dielectric elastomer layer, creating thin rubber sheets that change illuminance and capacitance under deformation. Arrays of individually controllable pixels in thin rubber sheets were fabricated using replica molding and were subjected to stretching, folding, and rolling to demonstrate their use as stretchable displays. These sheets were then integrated into the skin of a soft robot, providing it with dynamic coloration and sensory feedback from external and internal stimuli.

————来源：高分子科学前沿