Whoa, this UD grad student and her team are developing ‘stretchable electronics’

University of Delaware Ph.D. student Ru Chen and her team have come up with something that’s pretty nuts. They’ve created a material that they’re calling “stretchable electronics.”
This invention is essentially a wearable grouping of electronic sensors. “The most interesting thing,” Chen told The News Journal, “is that when we stretch the material, the conductivity of the material increases. It’s lightweight, transparent and we can make almost any device out of it.”
Chen thinks the material can be used by athletes to measure muscle movements or heart rates, for instance. Whatever the uses, she’s drawn the attention of companies like DuPont, Dow Chemical and W. L. Gore, according to the News Journal report.
Whether Chen takes this material and sells it on her own or to a large company is up in the air. She told The News Journal that she’s been offered interviews, but she “will keep my options open and see what happens. If I get a chance to start my own company that would be really good for me, but I may also see if I get any offers that I like.”
She’s a graduate of the first cohort of UD Horn Program for Entrepreneurship’s startup launchpad accelerator.
Chen has also been selected to present the invention at the National Academy of Inventors Student Innovation Showcase in Boston in April.