Abstract
Soft electronics that can conform to three-dimensional objects are of use in the development of wearable devices. However, it remains challenging to design multiscale and easy-to-pattern stretchable cables that can interface with conductive pads and form reliable interconnects with (soft, rigid and hybrid) terminal electronic units. Here we report a three-dimensional stretchable core–shell cable that is patternable, recyclable and noise-resistant. The fabrication process of the stretchable cables is compatible with multiple-scale manufacturing and has a recycling rate of up to 95%. The cables exhibit a Young modulus of around 0.9 MPa and a maximum stretchability of around 800%, with almost no resistance change under stretching. They can form reliable interfaces with various conductive pads through a room-temperature connection process, and we use them to create cable-connected hybrid electronics that maintain electrical performance under stretching. We show that the cables can be used in wearable physiological monitoring electronics and that the resistance of the stretchable cable is insensitive to mechanical interference.
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Source data are provided with this paper. Other data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (number 2024YFB4707503), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number T2525024), City University of Hong Kong (grant numbers 9229197, 9229201 and 9229206), as part of the InnoHK Project 2.2—AI-based 3D ultrasound imaging algorithm at Hong Kong Centre for Cerebro-cardiovascular Health Engineering (COCHE), the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (grant numbers RFS2324-1S03, R1017-24F, 11211425, 11215722, 11211523, C7005-23Y and T42-513/24-R), and the Nano & Material Technology Development Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (number RS-2024-00411904).
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X.Y. and P.W. conceived the idea and designed the projects. X.Y. and P.W. designed the material structure, process method and demonstrations. P.W. designed the specific characterization methods and performed the overall experiments. P.W., S.J. and Jiyu Li conducted the material preparation, patterning and related tests. P.W. and L.C. fabricated the stretchable LED display array and performed the related experiments. P.W., G.X., B.Z., G.Z. and Y. Huang conducted the ECG and EMG signal acquisition. T.X. conducted the in vitro cytotoxicity assay. C.K.Y., B.Z., Z.G., X. Huang, Y.J., Y. Gao, Y. Hu, Y. Guo, Jian Li, X. He, Q.Z., H.C. and W.P. assisted in the material preparation, device fabrication, experiment design and related characterization tests. P.W. and X.Y. wrote the manuscript. All authors contributed to analysing and discussing the data, and to commenting on the manuscript.
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Nature Electronics thanks Xuechang Zhou and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Supplementary Notes 1–6, Figs. 1–70, Table 1 and captions to Supplementary Videos 1–7.
Supplementary Video 1 (download MP4 )
Laser cutting process.
Supplementary Video 2 (download MP4 )
Industrial-scale ~50-meter-long 3D-SCSC.
Supplementary Video 3 (download MP4 )
Stretching 3D-SCSC after punching six holes.
Supplementary Video 4 (download MP4 )
Interfacing 3D-SCSC with SMD LED to fabricate hybrid circuit.
Supplementary Video 5 (download MP4 )
Stretchable LED display array mounted on knee during squatting process.
Supplementary Video 6 (download MP4 )
Spraying artificial sweat onto stretchable LED display array.
Supplementary Video 7 (download MP4 )
Performance comparison of 3D-SCSC and two commercial cables under dynamic stretching during measuring ECG signals.
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Wu, P., Jia, S., Li, J. et al. A three-dimensional stretchable core–shell cable for soft and hybrid electronics that is patternable, recyclable and noise-resistant. Nat Electron (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-026-01596-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-026-01596-2
