Korea University of Technology and Education Research Team Wins Best Poster Presentation Award at the Polymer Society of Korea

Development of Transparent and Stretchable PVC-Gel Dielectric Heater
Potential for Commercialization in Wearable Thermotherapy and Sensing Devices Attracts Attention

The research team from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at the School of Energy, Advanced Materials and Chemical Engineering at Korea University of Technology and Education has opened new possibilities in the field of next-generation wearable devices by winning the 'Best Poster Presentation Award' at the Fall Meeting of the Polymer Society of Korea.

Korea University of Technology and Education announced on October 2 that the research team, led by Professor Bae Jinwoo and master's student Choi Seungeun from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, received the Best Poster Presentation Award at the '2025 Fall Meeting of the Polymer Society of Korea,' held at BEXCO in Busan from September 29 to October 1.

The team presented a PVC-Gel-based dielectric heater that simultaneously achieves transparency and stretchability, under the theme 'Stretchable and Transparent PVC-Gel Dielectric Heaters with High Dissipation Factor for Wearable Thermotherapy and Thermal Sensing.'

The key aspect of this research is that it overcomes the low dielectric constant limitation of conventional stretchable materials through a simple process, enabling the development of a high-performance dielectric heater that operates at low voltage.

In particular, this heater maintains stable heating performance even when stretched by more than 300%, demonstrating high practicality for application in wearable thermotherapy devices and sensing devices.

Professor Bae Jinwoo and student Choi Seungeun stated, "The dielectric heater developed this time has the competitiveness to be applied in wearable thermotherapy devices for daily life," adding, "We will further enhance its commercialization potential through follow-up research."

This achievement was made possible with support from the Mid-Career Research Program under the Ministry of Science and ICT and the fourth stage of the Brain Korea 21 (BK21) project.