Making objects ‘smart’ with electroactive polymers

Imagine a future where smart flooring and beds can detect movement, heart rate or a person falling, or where smart fabrics measure and transmit biomedical information about the wearer, or even where the direction of catheters and surgical guides whose direction can be adjusted to the nearest tenth of a millimeter. That future is closer by than we think!

Arkema is working on so called electroactive polymers which would make these and other applications possible. It is a joint effort with manufacturers, universities, colleges, research institutes and associations from France and beyond. This collaboration is essential to bridge from the invention to the development of the application.

Printable electroactive polymers can be used to make thin, flexible, lightweight objects with large surface areas, which can be recycled using environmentally friendly methods. They make objects ‘smart’ and are currently already applied in watches (as injector), in smartphones (as sensor), and ultrasound scanners (as sonars).

Associated SDG Targets