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Dielectric elastomer actuators using ionogel electrodes are promising candidates for soft robotics, although their mechanical properties can limit actuation strain and self-healing capabilities. Here the authors report a poly(ionic liquid) electrode designed to improve mechanical properties and self-healing, thereby enabling higher actuation strains and recoverability.

Electrically activated soft actuators with large deformability are important for soft robotics but enhancing durability and efficiency of electrochemical actuators is challenging. Here the authors demonstrate that the actuation performance of an ionic two-dimensional covalent-organic framework based electrochemical actuator is improved through the ordered pore structure of opening up efficient ion transport routes

Technologies in human emotion recognition are challenged by their capability to accurately extract and exploit the emotional information. Lee et al. report a personalized skin-integrated facial interface to sense and combine facial and vocal expression data, enabling enhanced communication in virtual reality.

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) often suffer from time-dependent deformations due to their inherent viscoelastic properties. Herein, the viscoelastic effects were tuned through copolymerization between a polar crosslinker and a polyurethane acrylate DEA. With polar groups present in the crosslinker, the dielectric constant was effectively increased, achieving higher area strains compared to that exhibited by low viscoelastic elastomers such as silicone. Furthermore, improved dynamic response actuation performances were achieved with 90% of its maximum actuation obtained in less than 1 s while viscoelastic drifts were reduced to a negligible amount. These findings provide a facile approach to achieve rapid and stable DEAs.

A dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) which can provide reconfigurable 3D shape morphing was reported in this work. The reconfigurable actuator was fabricated by integrating the DEA with the ethyl cellulose (EC) paper. The mechanical actuation from the DEA under electrical bias was “instructed” by the origami EC paper to achieve designed shape changes. The crease patterns in the EC paper can be reprogrammed on demand, delivering alternative shape changes in the reconfigurable actuator. The strategy developed in this paper provides a promising approach to create sophisticated 3D shapes from DEAs without the requirement of complicated and bulky device architectures.

Electroadhesion in soft robotics provides controllable interfacial attraction for robotic functionalities but materials selection is limited. Here, Gao et. al. present an iontronic adhesive to design a soft iontronic gripper with self-healability, tunable adhesion at reduced voltages and rapid release.

An intrinsically stretchable and highly conductive graphene electrode based on vertically oriented graphene/Au bilayer flakes are successfully fabricated by a direct-laser-patterning at a very high-repetition rate and fast scanning speed of laser with a femtosecond pulse, allowing micro-supercapacitors to be integrated with the complete soft electronics systems that can be standalone and be customized by user’s circuit designs.

Eumelanin’s potential in electrochemical applications is hindered by its poor solubility in polar solvents. Here, the authors explore functional group modifications, revealing that nitro groups enhance water solubility and electrochemical performance, highlighting the critical role of electron-withdrawing effects in optimizing eumelanin-based devices.

Improving piezoelectric strain and voltage constant generally compromises piezoelectric performance and mechanical softness. Here, the authors report a bond weakening strategy for organic-inorganic hybrid piezoelectrics and mitigated these issues.

Elevated activity of the methionine cycle is essential for cancer stem cell tumorigenesis and represents a therapeutic vulnerability.

A holey graphene-wrapped porous TiNb₂₄O₆₂ microparticles for ultrafast pseudocapacitive lithium storage is studied. Due to the nanoscale dimensions and hierarchically porous channels of the nanocomposite material, the hybrid material exhibits both excellent rate performance and stability. Coupling with carbon nanosheet cathode, the fabricated lithium-ion capacitor demonstrate high energy and power density as well as utralong cycling stability.

Incorporation of triboelectric nanogenerators into textiles is attractive for self-powered wearable electronics. Here the authors employ black phosphorus with a hydrophobic coating in a durable, washable, and air permeable textile-based device that converts biomechanical motion into electricity.

Natural materials can combine strength and toughness, but achieving similar well-ordered structures for synthetic materials is challenging. Here, the authors report hydrogels prepared by flow-induced alignment of nanofibrils, with anisotropic structure and good mechanical properties.

Printed stretchable electronics with sustainable elastomers are typically limited by their electro-mechanical performances. Herein, Lv et al. report a sustainable vegetable oil-based polyurethane-enabled printed conductor with high performance enabled by the porous binder and sintering of silver flakes.

Tough and healable elastomers are promising materials to realize resilient soft robots but mechanical enhancements often lead to higher stiffness that deteriorates actuation strains. Here, the authors introduce liquid metal nanoparticles into carboxyl polyurethane elastomer to sensitize a dielectric elastomer actuator with responsiveness to electric fields and NIR light.

Designing efficient biological inspired devices and circuits remains a challenge. Here, the authors develop ionic diodes based on gel polymer electrolytes enabling ion rectification through different diffusion and migration of mobile ions for logic gates, nanogenerator and synaptic devices.

Electrochromic smart windows can be low-power routes to control building temperatures. This Review describes the working modes, assembly protocols and implementation of these windows.

Development of wearable devices relies on advance in power sources with complementary mechanical properties. Here the authors use a conductive, stretchable and healable composite to achieve sustained performance in a triboelectric nanogenerator under extreme deformation and after severe mechanical damage.

A semitransparent intelligent skin-like sensor platform based on polyaniline nanowire arrays was constructed, which can act as bionic component by simultaneously sensing tactile stimuli and detecting colorless odorless gas. The highest gauge factor demonstrated is 149, making it a remarkable candidate in strain sensing applications. Simultaneously, we demonstrate the controlled olfaction ability of the sensor with the detection of methane with high sensitivity and fast response time. These results enable the realization of multifunctional and uncorrelated sensing capabilities that will have wide range applications to augment robotics, treatment, simulate skin, health and bionic system.

Reversible strains are widely used in high-technology systems, with piezoelectrics showing fast response but low strain. Here, ferroelectric C₆H₅N(CH₃)₃CdCl₃ is shown to produce a strain of 21.5%, two orders of magnitude larger than other piezoelectrics, due to organic molecules preventing 180° polarization switching.

Eumelanin is a promising pigment for use in energy storage applications but has limitations hindering its wide usage. Here, melanin extracted from the black soldier fly is used to prepare electrodes with higher performance than synthetic melanin in zinc-ion hybrid capacitor applications.