TL;DR: This review explores flexible neuromorphic electronics for wearable near-sensor and in-sensor computing systems, integrating artificial sensory neurons and central nervous systems for efficient stimulus detection and processing in smart wearable systems connected to the Internet of Things.
Abstract: Abstract Flexible neuromorphic architectures that emulate biological cognitive systems hold great promise for smart wearable electronics. To realize neuro‐inspired sensing and computing electronics, artificial sensory neurons that detect and process external stimuli must be integrated with central nervous systems capable of parallel computation. In near‐sensor computing, synaptic devices, and sensors are used to emulate sensory neurons and receptors, respectively. In contrast, in in‐sensor computing, a single multifunctional device serves as both the receptor and neuron. Bio‐inspired cognitive systems efficiently detect and process stimuli through data structuring techniques, significantly reducing data volume and enabling the extension of neuromorphic applications to smart wearable systems. To construct wearable near‐ and in‐sensor computing, it is crucial to develop artificial sensory neurons and central nervous synapses that replicate the biological functionalities. Additionally, the integrated systems must exhibit high mechanical flexibility and integration density. This review addresses research on flexible bio‐inspired cognitive systems, classified into near‐ and in‐sensor computing. It covers fundamental aspects, including biological cognitive processes, the required components, and the structures for each component, as well as applications for wearable smart systems. Finally, it offers perspectives on future research directions for flexible neuromorphic electronics in smart wearable systems connected to the next‐generation Internet of Things.
TL;DR: This review article summarizes recent advancements in conductive polymers for flexible electronics, covering properties, fabrication processes, and multifunctional applications in energy storage, sensors, textiles, and biomedical fields over the last 15 years.
Abstract: The rapid developments in conductive polymers with flexible electronics over the past years have generated noteworthy attention among researchers and entrepreneurs. Conductive polymers have the distinctive capacity to conduct electricity while still maintaining the lightweight, flexible, and versatile characteristics of polymers. They are crucial for the creation of flexible electronics or gadgets that can stretch, bend, and adapt to different surfaces have sparked momentous interest in electronics, energy storage, sensors, smart textiles, and biomedical applications. This review article offers a comprehensive overview of recent advancements in conductive polymers over the last 15 years, including a bibliometric analysis. The properties of conductive polymers are summarized. Additionally, the fabrication processes of conductive polymer-based materials are discussed, including vacuum filtering, hydrothermal synthesis, spray coating, electrospinning, in situ polymerization, and electrochemical polymerization. The techniques have been presented along with their advantages and limitations. The multifunctional applications of conductive polymers are also discussed, including their roles in energy storage and conversion (e.g., supercapacitors, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), and sodium-ion batteries (SIBs)), as well as in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), organic solar cells (OSCs), conductive textiles, healthcare monitoring, and sensors. Future scope and associated challenges have also been mentioned for further development in this field.
TL;DR: This review summarizes recent advances in surface and interfacial engineering of nanocarbon materials for multifunctional devices, highlighting techniques, structural evolution, and applications in soft electronics, thermal management, and electromagnetic interference shielding.
Abstract: Multifunctional materials are accelerating the development of soft electronics with integrated capabilities including wearable physical sensing, efficient thermal management, and high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding. With outstanding mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, nanocarbon materials offer ample opportunities for designing multifunctional devices with broad applications. Surface and interfacial engineering have emerged as an effective approach to modulate interconnected structures, which may have tunable and synergistic effects for the precise control over mechanical, transport, and electromagnetic properties. This review presents a comprehensive summary of recent advances empowering the development of multifunctional nanocarbon materials via surface and interfacial engineering in the context of surface and interfacial engineering techniques, structural evolution, multifunctional properties, and their wide applications. Special emphasis is placed on identifying the critical correlations between interfacial structures across nanoscales, microscales, and macroscales and multifunctional properties. The challenges currently faced by the multifunctional nanocarbon materials are examined, and potential opportunities for applications are also revealed. We anticipate that this comprehensive review will promote the further development of soft electronics and trigger ideas for the interfacial design of nanocarbon materials in multidisciplinary applications.
TL;DR: Electro-spun nanofibers are explored as triboelectric nanogenerator materials for wearable electronics, offering design flexibility and high surface area, with applications in wearable sensing, human-machine interaction, and self-powered devices, and potential for improved energy conversion efficiency and durability.
Abstract: Electro-Spun nanofibers (ESNs), with their design flexibility, tailorable morphologies, and high surface area, are well-favored as triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) materials for wearable electronics. Here, various aspects of ESNs-based wearable TENGs were examined. After introducing the most common TENG operating modes, an insightful overview of wearable TENG applications based on ESNs was presented. In this survey, a special attention is paid to wearable sensing, human-machine interaction, self-powered devices, and amplified energy harvesting. Efforts towards improving energy conversion efficiency, material durability, and compatibility with diverse wearable platforms were visited. Finally, a perspective based on particularly material aspect of ESNs is given, which could be insightful in tackling prevailing challenges and giving birth to new directions.
TL;DR: Two-dimensional materials are promising building blocks for brain-inspired computing hardware, offering low-energy alternatives to conventional silicon hardware, with unique properties enabling biorealistic synaptic and neuronal responses for next-generation electronics and neuromorphic computing.
Abstract: Recent breakthroughs in brain-inspired computing promise to address a wide range of problems from security to healthcare. However, the current strategy of implementing artificial intelligence algorithms using conventional silicon hardware is leading to unsustainable energy consumption. Neuromorphic hardware based on electronic devices mimicking biological systems is emerging as a low-energy alternative, although further progress requires materials that can mimic biological function while maintaining scalability and speed. As a result of their diverse unique properties, atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials are promising building blocks for next-generation electronics including nonvolatile memory, in-memory and neuromorphic computing, and flexible edge-computing systems. Furthermore, 2D materials achieve biorealistic synaptic and neuronal responses that extend beyond conventional logic and memory systems. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the growth, fabrication, and integration of 2D materials and van der Waals heterojunctions for neuromorphic electronic and optoelectronic devices, circuits, and systems. For each case, the relationship between physical properties and device responses is emphasized followed by a critical comparison of technologies for different applications. We conclude with a forward-looking perspective on the key remaining challenges and opportunities for neuromorphic applications that leverage the fundamental properties of 2D materials and heterojunctions.
TL;DR: This paper reviews recent advancements in manufacturing techniques for carbon nanotube/polymer composites, enhancing their mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties, and explores their diverse applications in fields like electronics, energy, and biotechnology.
Abstract: Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have garnered significant interest in the field of nanotechnology owing to their unique structure and exceptional properties. These materials find applications across a diverse array of fields, including electronics, environmental science, energy, and biotechnology. CNTs serve as potent reinforcing agents in polymer composites; even minimal additions can significantly improve the mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of polymers. With the growing demand for polymer composites across various industries, there is an anticipation for CNT/polymer composites to evolve in increasingly diverse directions. This paper reviews recent advancements in the manufacturing techniques of various CNT/polymer composites and discusses the enhancements in their mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. Furthermore, it explores the potential applications of these composites.
TL;DR: Researchers develop a permeable, stretchable, and recyclable cellulose aerogel-based electronic system for on-skin sensing and healthcare, exhibiting high sensitivity, low detection limit, and fast response time, with potential for long-term wear and environmental friendliness.
Abstract: Flexible on-skin electronics present tremendous popularity in intelligent electronic skins (e-skins), healthcare monitoring, and human-machine interfaces. However, the reported e-skins can hardly provide high permeability, good stretchability, and large sensitivity and are limited in long-term stability and efficient recyclability when worn on the human body. Herein, inspired from the human skin, a permeable, stretchable, and recyclable cellulose aerogel-based electronic system is developed by sandwiching a screen-printed silver sensing layer between a biocompatible CNF/HPC/PVA (cellulose nanofiber/hydroxypropyl cellulose/poly(vinyl alcohol)) aerogel hypodermis layer and a permeable polyurethane layer as the epidermis layer. The cellulose aerogel displays a high tensile strength of 1.14 MPa and tensile strain of 43.5% while maintaining good permeability. The cellulose aerogel-based electronics embrace appealing sensing performances with high sensitivity (gauge factor ≈ 238), ultralow detection limit (0.1%), and fast response time (18 ms) under strain stimulus. Owing to the disconnection and reconnection of microcracks in the sensing layer, both strain/humidity sensing and thermal healthcare can be easily achieved. The permeable electronics can be further integrated into an electronic mask for patient-centered healthcare with a power supply system, switching control device, and wireless Bluetooth module. Moreover, the prepared electronic system enables long-term wearing on human skin without skin irritation, and all components of the electronics can be recaptured/reused in water. This material strategy highlights the potential of next-generation on-skin electronics with high permeability and good environmental friendliness.
TL;DR: Researchers develop high mobility emissive organic semiconductors (HMEOSCs) for optoelectronic devices, overcoming performance bottlenecks and enabling high-density integrated devices, with promising applications in smart displays, organic lasers, and photoelectric conversion devices.
Abstract: High mobility emissive organic semiconductors (HMEOSCs) are a kind of unique semiconducting material that simultaneously integrates high charge carrier mobility and strong emission features, which are not only crucial for overcoming the performance bottlenecks of current organic optoelectronic devices but also important for constructing high-density integrated devices/circuits for potential smart display technologies and electrically pumped organic lasers. However, the development of HMEOSCs is facing great challenges due to the mutually exclusive requirements of molecular structures and packing modes between high charge carrier mobility and strong solid-state emission. Encouragingly, considerable advances on HMEOSCs have been made with continuous efforts, and the successful integration of these two properties within individual organic semiconductors currently presents a promising research direction in organic electronics. Representative progress, including the molecular design of HMEOSCs, and the exploration of their applications in photoelectric conversion devices and electroluminescent devices, especially organic photovoltaic cells, organic light-emitting diodes, and organic light-emitting transistors, are summarized in a timely manner. The current challenges of developing HMEOSCs and their potential applications in other related devices including electrically pumped organic lasers, spin organic light-emitting transistors are also discussed. We hope that this perspective will boost the rapid development of HMEOSCs with a new mechanism understanding and their wide applications in different fields entering a new stage.
TL;DR: Researchers developed a 3D laser printing method using femtosecond laser direct writing to create high-resolution, high-density interconnects in elastomer-based soft electronics, enabling the fabrication of complex, miniaturized systems for smart healthcare, robotics, and human-machine interactions.
Abstract: Abstract High-density interconnect (HDI) soft electronics that can integrate multiple individual functions into one miniaturized monolithic system is promising for applications related to smart healthcare, soft robotics, and human-machine interactions. However, despite the recent advances, the development of three-dimensional (3D) soft electronics with both high resolution and high integration is still challenging because of the lack of efficient manufacturing methods to guarantee interlayer alignment of the high-density vias and reliable interlayer electrical conductivity. Here, an advanced 3D laser printing pathway, based on femtosecond laser (fsL) direct writing (FLDW), is demonstrated for preparing liquid metal (LM)-based anylayer HDI soft electronics. FLDW technology, with the characteristics of high spatial resolution and high precision, allows the maskless fabrication of high-resolution embedded LM microchannels and high-density vertical interconnect accesses (VIAs) for 3D integrated circuits. High-aspect-ratio blind/through LM microstructures are formed inside the elastomer due to the supermetalphobicity induced during the laser ablation. The LM-based HDI circuit featuring high resolution (~1.5 um) and high integration (10-layer electrical interconnection) is achieved for customized soft electronics, including various customized multilayer passive electric components, soft multilayer circuit, and cross-scale multimode sensors. The 3D laser printing method provides a versatile approach for developing chip-level soft electronics.
TL;DR: QB-AutoIDS, a blockchain-based decentralized system, uses hybrid double Q-learning and Bi-LSTM to detect cyberattacks in consumer IoT environments, achieving high accuracy (99.1-99.9%) on benchmark datasets and outperforming existing models in scalability and accuracy.
Abstract: Blockchain technology holds promise for securing decentralized interactions in consumer electronics, especially within IoT ecosystems such as smart home devices and wearable health monitors. However, user transactions remain vulnerable to cyberattacks, including DDoS and spoofing, which threaten data confidentiality and system availability. To address this, we propose QB-AutoIDS, a decentralized autonomous intrusion detection system that combines clipped double Q-learning (CDQL) with bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) networks for real-time cyberattack detection in blockchain-enabled consumer IoT environments. QB-AutoIDS operates directly on blockchain nodes and optimizes detection performance through CDQL-enhanced Bi-LSTM modeling. We evaluate our method on four benchmark datasets—DDoS-LFA, CSE-CIC-IDS, BoT-IoT, and AWS—achieving 99.105%, 99.5%, 99.99%, and 99.4% accuracy, respectively. On DDoS-LFA, QB-AutoIDS improves over Collaborative Learning (CoL), Centralized Learning (CeL), and Independent Learning (IL) by 1.76% in accuracy, 3.11% in precision, and 3.33% in recall. Compared to baseline models (LSTM, GMDH, and CNN), QB-AutoIDS further increases accuracy by 4.6%, 11.1%, and 20.9%, respectively, underscoring its effectiveness for scalable and accurate cyber threat detection in resource-constrained consumer IoT applications.
TL;DR: Researchers develop mussel-inspired yarns with dual conductive pathways and encapsulation, enabling high stretchability, sensitivity, and self-healability for wearable electronics, with applications in physiological motion detection, gesture recognition, and circuit connection.
Abstract: Abstract Wearable electronic textiles, capable of detecting human motions and recognizing gestures, represent the forefront of personalized electronics. However, the integration of high stretchability, sensitivity, durability, and self‐healable/self‐bondable capabilities into one platform remains challenging. Herein, mussel‐inspired stretchable, sensitive, and self‐healable/self‐bonded conductive yarns enabled by dual electron transfer pathways and dual encapsulation technology are presented. Specifically, covered spandex yarns provide the necessary stretchability and adsorption capacity, while supramolecular polydopamine layer affords enhanced interfacial interactions. Reduced graphene oxide nanosheets and silver nanoparticle‐based sensing layers offer dual electron transfer pathways. Dual encapsulations with self‐healable/self‐bondable ability not only mitigate the crack propagation but also protect inner conductive materials from detachment. Benefiting from these rational designs, the composite yarns exhibit a large sensing range (158% strain), high sensitivity (22.88), low detection limit (0.0345%), fast response/recovery times (105/150 ms), and remarkable robustness (enduring 10 000 cycles at 20% strain). Furthermore, pressure sensors and sensing arrays are assembled by stacking conductive yarns perpendicularly using a self‐bondable function, and self‐healable helical‐structured conductors are fabricated through the shape‐memory effect. Important applications of multifunctional yarns in physiological motion detection, gesture recognition, and circuit connection are demonstrated. This concept creates opportunities for the construction of multifunctional and high‐performance wearable electronic textiles.
TL;DR: Researchers developed highly customizable, ultrawide-temperature flexible sensors using medium-entropy alloy paints, exhibiting exceptional strain sensitivity, low detection limits, and thermal stability from -150 to 1100 °C, enabling in-situ monitoring of morphing aircraft in extreme environments.
Abstract: High-performance flexible sensing electronics on complex surfaces operating across broad temperatures are critical for aerospace and industrial applications. However, existing flexible sensors and materials face limitations in sensitivity and thermal stability. Here, we report an ink-engineering strategy to directly print single-face MoWNb medium entropy alloy paints on arbitrary surfaces without complicated post-processing. These sensors exhibit exceptional strain sensitivity (gauge factor up to -752.7 at 300 °C), a low detection limit (0.57 με), and superior thermal stability from -150 to 1100 °C. Through a cyclic dispersing/re-printing process, the fully recyclable sensors retain electrical properties and sensing performance. Furthermore, by integrating with a long-range radio module, we demonstrate a wireless sensing system for in-situ and real-time monitoring of a morphing aircraft under various extreme environments. Our findings provide a convenient and efficient approach for the direct fabrication of flexible sensors and the seamless integration into sensing systems that work reliably in harsh environmental conditions.