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Lee et al. Soft Sci 2024;4:38 Soft Science
DOI: 10.20517/ss.2024.36

Review Article Open Access

Strain-engineered stretchable substrates for free-

form display applications

1,#
2,*
2,#
Dong Won Lee , Dong Hyoun Park , Jun-Chan Choi , Seungjun Chung 2,*
1
KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
2
School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea.
#
Authors contributed equally.
* Correspondence to: Dr. Jun-Chan Choi, Prof. Seungjun Chung, School of Electrical Engineering, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro,
Seongbuk-gu, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea. E-mail: jcchoii@korea.ac.kr; seungjun@korea.ac.kr
How to cite this article: Lee DW, Park DH, Choi JC, Chung S. Strain-engineered stretchable substrates for free-form display
applications. Soft Sci 2024;4:38. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ss.2024.36
Received: 29 Aug 2024 First Decision: 9 Oct 2024 Revised: 5 Nov 2024 Accepted: 9 Nov 2024 Published: 15 Nov 2024

Academic Editor: Yihui Zhang Copy Editor: Pei-Yun Wang Production Editor: Pei-Yun Wang

Abstract
With the growing potential of the Internet of Things, displays are being utilized to provide various types of
information in every aspect of daily life, leading to the expansion of form-factor-free displays. Stretchable displays
are considered the ultimate goal in form factor innovation, and they are not limited to rectangular shapes with
deformation characteristics suited to target applications. Because reliable stretchable displays should be robust
under uniaxial and biaxial strain, there have been efforts to tailor mechanical stress with promising strategies from
structural and material perspectives. This review focuses on strain-engineering stretchable substrates for free-form
display applications. First, we introduce deformable substrates with structural stretchability, achieved by
incorporating buckling and Kirigami structures into plastic films, and we systematically analyze the tensile
deformation characteristics based on design elements. In addition, we examined intrinsically stretchable
elastomeric substrates, which have gained considerable attention due to recent advances in material and
processing technologies. Their spatial modulus patterning is studied by applying optimized design principles,
achieved through network alignment and crosslinking control in homogeneous elastomers, as well as by
incorporating heterogeneous structures within the elastomer materials. Finally, we discussed state-of-the-art
stretchable display applications employing strain-engineered stretchable substrates, focusing on advantageous
materials and structures based on the display components, processes, and target deformation characteristics.
Building on this foundation, we discuss the development of next-generation free-form displays and aim to
contribute to their application in various static and dynamic deformation environments.

Keywords: Strain-engineering methods, structurally designed plastic films, modulus-patterned elastomers,
stretchable displays

© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
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