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The authors developed a highly sensitive skin-conformal NIR organic photodetector with fast photoresponse speed that achieves MHz-speed, angle-free, and long-range (100 m) wireless optical communication with stable performance under mechanical deformation.

Strain-induced damage typically limits the bending radius of electronic circuits to a few millimetres. The development of very thin organic transistors and electronic circuit designs that show a bending radius down to 100 μm will enable novel applications with unconventional form factors.

Black phosphorus (BP) is considered a promising van der Waals material for the realization of mid-infrared detectors. Here, the authors report the realization of flexible infrared imagers based on solution-processed BP photodiodes on thin plastic substrates, showing long term stability and mechanical robustness.

Stretchable electronics enables applications on arbitrary curved surfaces or on movable parts to be made. Based on a new technique for printing with carbon nanotube pastes, stretchable active matrix displays containing integrated electronic circuits are now realized.

Biocompatibility is a limiting factor in the use of electronic sensors in physiological applications. Here, the authors present a flexible and conductive polymer gel as an adhesive interface material for electronic biosensors, also demonstrating in vivoheart attachment and monitoring.

Though shape-changing devices are promising for future haptic displays, existing designs fail to provide smooth surfaces for the user during tactile exploration. Here, the authors utilize flexible auxetic structures to realize shape displays with smooth surfaces and different Gaussian curvatures.

Liu et al. developed AI-driven, wearable olfactory interfaces with odor generators for realizing latency-free mixed-reality and fast olfaction recovery. This technology enables personalized olfactory feedback and enhanced virtual environments for various applications including education, and clinical treatment.

Ultrasoft nanomesh electronics enable monitoring of the field potential of cardiomyocytes without interference with their natural motion.

A composite fibrous material made of carbon nanotubes and graphene responds to small pressure but not to bending deformation.

Flexible electronics promise the opportunity to monitor biological activity via implanted devices. Here, the authors develop a biocompatible conductive carbon nanotube/gel composite and couple it with an ultrathin flexible amplifier, enabling in vivomeasurement of epicardial electrocardiogram signals.

A conformable imager with a resolution of 508 pixels per inch, a speed of 41 frames per second and a total thickness of only 15 μm can be used to capture images of fingerprints and veins, and to map pulse waves.

Organic electronic devices are promising for many applications, particularly in biomedical research, but are hindered by thermal instability and low melting points. Now, organic thin-film transistors are shown with excellent thermal properties that can withstand medical sterilization processes.

Printable electronics is highly desirable for high throughput device manufacture. Here, Matsuhisa et al. report an electric ink, made of a self-assembled network of sliver flakes on the surface of a fluorine rubber matrix, which exhibits high conductivity and mechanical durability to achieve this goal.

This review introduce the structure and properties of electrospun nanofiber materials and the various strategies for assembling soft electronic devices such as sensors, transistors, and components for energy harvesting and storage.

High-resolution imaging technologies call for photodetectors with high-gain and linear response over a large dynamic range. Chow et al. show a dual-gate structure that combines the operation of photodiodes and phototransistors to enable both amplified and linear response without external circuitry.

Printing and heating of a fluorinated elastomer mixed with silver flakes, a fluorine surfactant and methylisobutylketone leads to the formation of in situ silver nanoparticles, which boost the conductivity of this highly stretchable composite material.

Flexible electronic devices remain an attractive technology for optical sensor applications that require long-term health monitoring and conformability on human skin. Here, the authors report an ultrathin self-powered integrated organic optical system for plethysmogram monitoring.

Self-assembled few-layer organic films based on paraffinic tripodal triptycene provide an efficient surface functionalization strategy for high-performance organic electronic devices.

Breathable and stretchable fibrous mesh electrical interconnects directly attached to human skin can serve as components of on-skin sensors.

Biocompatible light-emitting structures based on high-performance inorganic compound semiconductors on flexible substrates open the path to futuristic therapeutic devices, instrumented surgical gloves and many other applications.

Electronic sensor foils only 2 μm thick are extremely light, 27-fold lighter than office paper, durable and flexible and conform to curvilinear surfaces for many innovative applications.

The ability to fabricate silicon optoelectronic devices on a curved surface will lead to imaging systems with exceptional characteristics. This innovative technology will find diverse applications.

Semiconducting inks based on carbon nanotubes have mobilities that are comparable with those of polycrystalline silicon, and could one day match the performance of single-crystal silicon. A host of applications based on this inexpensive approach to electronics are expected.

Using more than 100 independent iPSC lines derived from patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the authors discovered loci associated with the neuronal production of amyloid β and confirmed their influence using RNA interference.

Detection of biometric signals by self-powered electronic devices that are highly flexible and can be applied to skin.

We report on conductive ultrathin films (referred to as “nanosheets”) with stretchability and water vapor permeability for skin-conformable bioelectrodes. By combining conductive fibrous networks of single-wall carbon nanotubes and poly(styrene-b-butadiene-b-styrene) continuous nanosheets (i.e., SWCNT-SBS nanosheets), the conductive nanosheet shows a high tolerance to bending on a model skin sheet and a high permeability to humidity. Finally, we demonstrate that the conductive nanosheet can detect the surface electromyogram signals from a subject’s forearm.

Flexible self-charging power sources harvest energy from the ambient environment and simultaneously charge energy-storage devices. This Review discusses different kinds of available energy devices, power management strategies and applications of power-source integration in soft electronics.