A bicontinuous conducting polymer hydrogel with high electrical conductivity, stretchability and fracture toughness in physiological environments achieves high-fidelity monitoring and effective ...stimulation of tissues and organs.
A wearable hyperthermia device that allows for tumor treatment without interfering with daily activities is of clinical and social significance. However, the wide adaptation of local hyperthermia ...from such wearable devices in clinical practice has been hindered mainly due to several critical challenges in existing hyperthermia devices, such as the contradiction of high electrical conductivity and high optical transparency of the device while in a thin, deformable format. Here a soft, skin‐mountable, hyperthermia patch (HTP) is reported with unusual optical and electrical characteristics based on unidirectional silver nanofibers (AgNFs) network with low‐voltage operation and uniform heating even under mechanical deformation. The patch presents both high electrical conductivity and highly optical transparency simultaneously thus allowing real time inspection of the subcutaneous tumor treatment and skin response during the treatment. The unidirectional nature of the AgNFs network renders the key features of high optical transparency, low electrical resistivity, excellent electrothermal performances, and mechanical deformability. Effective treatment of subcutaneous tumors in mice is demonstrated with the skin worn HTP while the skin response is visually tracked. Systematic studies reveal the physiological mechanisms of Notch signaling in inducing tumor cell apoptosis.
A soft, skin‐mountable, hyperthermia patch (HTP) that combines broad‐spectrum transparency and excellent electrothermal performances is developed based on a unidirectional silver nanofibers network. The hyperthermia patch allows to monitor skin response while administering treatment. Hyperthermia treatment for subcutaneous tumors are demonstrated based on mice models.
In article number 1902417, Cunjiang Yu and co‐workers review the recent advances in rubbery electronics. Rubbery electronics is a class of electronics that is comprised of intrinsically stretchable ...elastomeric electronic materials. This cover illustrates a piece of rubbery electronics and circuits in the format of a glove.
Multiplexed active matrix addressing is critical to extract and process signals from a large number of channels. Recently, the soft active matrix has attracted a great deal of attention due to its ...potential for a variety of applications such as electronic skins, sensors, and bioelectronics. To realize their use in these various applications, flexible and stretchable formats of the active matrix technologies have emerged. In this review, a variety of reports on the soft active matrix are presented and discussed. The technologies of electronic devices implemented in the modern active matrix are introduced. Strategies to achieve flexible and stretchable active matrix technologies, their advantages and disadvantages, and their applications are briefly described. The review closes with a summary, the associated challenges, and future directions for the development of soft active matrix electronics.
This review paper provides an overview of the recent developments in flexible and stretchable active matrix electronics for various applications.
Artificial synaptic devices that can be stretched similar to those appearing in soft-bodied animals, such as earthworms, could be seamlessly integrated onto soft machines toward enabled neurological ...functions. Here, we report a stretchable synaptic transistor fully based on elastomeric electronic materials, which exhibits a full set of synaptic characteristics. These characteristics retained even the rubbery synapse that is stretched by 50%. By implementing stretchable synaptic transistor with mechanoreceptor in an array format, we developed a deformable sensory skin, where the mechanoreceptors interface the external stimulations and generate presynaptic pulses and then the synaptic transistors render postsynaptic potentials. Furthermore, we demonstrated a soft adaptive neurorobot that is able to perform adaptive locomotion based on robotic memory in a programmable manner upon physically tapping the skin. Our rubbery synaptic transistor and neurologically integrated devices pave the way toward enabled neurological functions in soft machines and other applications.
Skin‐Mountable Hyperthermia Patch
In article number 2111228, Wei Lan, Jing Wang, Cunjiang Yu, and co‐workers fabricate a soft, skin‐mountable, hyperthermia patch (HTP)‐based unidirectional metalized ...silver nanofibers network that combines high transparency and excellent electrothermal properties. The HTP allows to monitor skin irritation during hyperthermia treatment of subcutaneous tumors and other medical issues.
A rubber-like stretchable semiconductor with high carrier mobility is the most important yet challenging material for constructing rubbery electronics and circuits with mechanical softness and ...stretchability at both microscopic (material) and macroscopic (structural) levels for many emerging applications. However, the development of such a rubbery semiconductor is still nascent. Here, we report the scalable manufacturing of high-performance stretchable semiconducting nanofilms and the development of fully rubbery transistors, integrated electronics, and functional devices. The rubbery semiconductor is assembled into a freestanding binary-phased composite nanofilm based on the air/water interfacial assembly method. Fully rubbery transistors and integrated electronics, including logic gates and an active matrix, were developed, and their electrical performances were retained even when stretched by 50%. An elastic smart skin for multiplexed spatiotemporal mapping of physical pressing and a medical robotic hand equipped with rubbery multifunctional electronic skin was developed to show the applications of fully rubbery-integrated functional devices.
Biocompatible Conductive Inks
In article number 2107099, Cunjiang Yu and co‐workers report the recent development of a conductive ink that is fully biocompatible at the cell, tissue, and organ ...levels. It also allows for conformal interfacing with human skin for high‐fidelity electrophysiological measurements. This cover illustrates the conformal contact of the ink film with skin.
Accurate anatomical matching for patient-specific electromyographic (EMG) mapping is crucial yet technically challenging in various medical disciplines. The fixed electrode construction of ...multielectrode arrays (MEAs) makes it nearly impossible to match an individual's unique muscle anatomy. This mismatch between the MEAs and target muscles leads to missing relevant muscle activity, highly redundant data, complicated electrode placement optimization, and inaccuracies in classification algorithms. Here, we present customizable and reconfigurable drawn-on-skin (DoS) MEAs as the first demonstration of high-density EMG mapping from in situ-fabricated electrodes with tunable configurations adapted to subject-specific muscle anatomy. The DoS MEAs show uniform electrical properties and can map EMG activity with high fidelity under skin deformation-induced motion, which stems from the unique and robust skin-electrode interface. They can be used to localize innervation zones (IZs), detect motor unit propagation, and capture EMG signals with consistent quality during large muscle movements. Reconfiguring the electrode arrangement of DoS MEAs to match and extend the coverage of the forearm flexors enables localization of the muscle activity and prevents missed information such as IZs. In addition, DoS MEAs customized to the specific anatomy of subjects produce highly informative data, leading to accurate finger gesture detection and prosthetic control compared with conventional technology.
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