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Natural rubber is a widely used biopolymer and further improving its resistance to crack growth will extend its service life. Here the authors show a strategy to amplify the resistance to crack growth in natural rubber by forming a tanglemer.

Bursting of electrified drops is a fundamental physical process and important for diverse technical applications. Wanget al. find that bursting of electrified drops in polymers is sensitive to the shape of the drops, which in turn is determined by the polymer's elasticity

One of the key components in stretchable electronics is the electrical conductors, which need to show a low electrical resistance even when strained. Here, by using sacrificial grain boundaries as a fabrication template, Guo and colleagues fabricate highly transparent gold nanomesh electrodes with exceptionally high stretchability.

Crosslinked polymers often suffer from increased modulus with decreased fatigue threshold or large hysteresis. Here the authors achieve high modulus, high fatigue threshold, and low hysteresis in a network of unusually long polymer chains crosslinked by domains of physical bonds.

A rubber in which highly entangled long polymers strongly adhere with rigid particles deconcentrates stress across multiple scales, amplifying the fatigue threshold.

Synthesizing architected materials with strong adhesion has been challenging. Here the authors fabricate architected polymer networks by sequential polymerization and photolithography, and attain adherent interface by topological entanglement.

Hydrogels with improved mechanical properties, made by combining polymer networks with ionic and covalent crosslinks, should expand the scope of applications, and may serve as model systems to explore mechanisms of deformation and energy dissipation.

Sensing mechanical signals is an important aspect for a range of applications of E-skins. Here, the authors report on the creation of deforming iontronic sensing structures which can use ionic transport through tissues to create a simple and sensitive E-skin for sensing touch, pulse and motion demonstrating application.

Hydrogels and hydrophobic elastomers of various shapes are difficult to bond in arbitrary sequences. Here the authors mix silane coupling agents into a precursor to form hydrogel resins with robust properties that can be spun, coated and printed in air.

Fluorinated elastomers as photoresists in the fabrication of soft neural probes are used to enhance the spatiotemporal recording capability at single-neuron resolution within the central nervous system of rodents.

Rolled-up ultraflexible mesh electronics can be injected through a syringe needle of diameter as small as 100 μm into man-made and biological cavities, gels and tissues, where they can unfold and perform sensing operations.

Three-dimensional bioactive scaffolds can support tissue growth for studies in cellular biophysics and regenerative medicine. Such scaffolds have now been integrated with semiconductor nanowires to probe their porous interior, allowing for real-time monitoring of signals such as the response of neural and cardiac tissue models to drugs.

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

A junction between an ionic conductor and an electronic conductor is called non-faradaic if no electrochemical reaction takes place. Such a junction can be used to sense various environmental signals, including pressure, sound, temperature and chemicals. This Review discusses non-faradaic junction sensors, with emphasis on the development of devices and materials.

Hydrogel ionotronics employ hydrogels as stretchable, transparent, ionic conductors for the development of ionotronic devices, such as artificial muscles, skins and axons. This Review discusses the mechanical properties and chemistry of materials for hydrogel ionotronic devices and highlights possible applications.

Recent developments in advanced semiconductor nanomaterials and methods for their assembly establish new, important capabilities in flexible and stretchable electronics and optoelectronics. This review describes the most successful materials, mechanics and manufacturing strategies, and illustrates their use in bio-integrated devices designed for basic measurements of cellular electrophysiology and multimodal sensing suitable for clinical applications. Opportunities span a variety of biomedical applications including skin-based, neural, and cardiovascular monitoring and therapy.