Abstract
Soft polymers programmed with functional particles can be used to create intrinsically stretchable electronics. However, current approaches to fabricating such materials require that the particles be first colloidally dispersed in a liquid monomer or polymer solution that have limited material compatibilities and necessitate precise control over the associated fluid mechanics during the printing process. Here we report the direct incorporation of functional particles in soft polymers using particle engulfment, a process in which particles are spontaneously subsumed by the polymer matrix via surface energy. The engulfment phenomenon occurs when the characteristic size of the particles is much smaller than the elastocapillary length of the polymer matrix, resulting in an energetically stable configuration where functional particles become deeply embedded into the polymer. We use the approach to fabricate multilayered, multimaterial and elastic devices with wireless sensing, communication and power transfer capabilities.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.
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Acknowledgements
R.L. acknowledges support from the South China University of Technology start-up funding and Xiaomi Young Talents Program. Y.L.K. acknowledges support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) NIBIB Trailblazer Award (grant no. R21-EB029563), NIH R01 Award (grant no. R01-EB032959), Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program Award (grant no. N00014-23-1-2391) and CDMRP Discovery Award (grant no. HT9425-23-1-0041). J.S.H. acknowledges support from the National Research Foundation (grant no. NRFF2017-07) and Ministry of Education (grant nos. MOE2016-T2-2-016 and MOE2016-T3-1-004).
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R.L., Y.L.K. and J.S.H. conceived and planned the research. R.L. and C.J. performed the experiments and data analysis. S.A. and X.Y. supported design of wireless devices. H.P.A.A. supported mechanical characterization of soft materials. R.L., Y.L.K. and J.S.H. wrote the paper with input from all the authors. All other authors contributed to discussing the data and commenting on the final manuscript.
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Nature Electronics thanks Kenjiro Fukuda and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Supplementary Information
Supplementary Table 1, Figs. 1–22 and Video Captions 1–6.
Supplementary Video 1
Fabrication processes of particle engulfment and adhesion.
Supplementary Video 2
Electrical resistance of engulfment and adhesion samples.
Supplementary Video 3
Robustness of engulfment and adhesion samples against tape peeling.
Supplementary Video 4
Robustness of engulfment and adhesion samples against washing.
Supplementary Video 5
Motion sensing via an NFC sensor node.
Supplementary Video 6
Motion sensing via a radio-frequency tag.
Source data
Source Data Figs. 2–4
Source data for Figs. 2b–f, 3g–i and 4c,f,i.
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Lin, R., Jiang, C., Achavananthadith, S. et al. Soft electronics based on particle engulfment printing. Nat Electron 8, 127–134 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01291-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01291-0
