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Soft electronic materials are key elements for realizing wearable, attachable, and stick-on electronics. The development of deformable and stretchable electrodes is a key research area as they are one of the most important components for soft electronic devices. Recently, significant progress in the development of deformable and stretchable electrodes has been achieved with organic materials offering electrical tunability, simple mechanical implementation, and desirable chemical and optical properties. In this review, we present recent progress in the design of stretchable electronics based on deformable conducting materials, including their fabrication and conductivity properties and the methods that are employed to enhance performance. In addition, we review the development status of organic- and carbon- based conductive materials and their hybrid composites being used for electronic applications, including carbon nanotubes, graphene, metal composites, conductive polymers, hybrid composites, and ion gel composites. The structural aspects, such as wavy or mesh configurations, of stretchable electrodes and other high-performance conducting materials are investigated intensively. Many stretchable electrodes show great potential for use in future electronics such as electronic skin (e-skin) and stretchable displays, which require reversible deformation and a high degree of operational stability.

Hybrid materials in optoelectronic devices can provide synergistic effects that complementarily enhance the properties of each component. Here, flexible high-performance graphene hybrid photodetectors (PDs) are developed by introducing gold nanostars (GNSs) and perovskites for strong light trapping with hot electron transfer and efficient light harvesting characteristics, respectively. While pristine graphene PDs do not exhibit discernible photodetection properties due to the very low photon absorption and ultrafast charge carrier recombination, graphene PDs functionalized with GNSs and a densely covered perovskite layer exhibit outstanding photoresponsive properties with a photoresponsivity (R) of 5.90 × 104 A W−1 and a specific detectivity of 1.31 × 1013 Jones, the highest values among those reported for perovskite-functionalized graphene PDs thus far. Moreover, we fabricated a flexible 10 × 10 PD array that shows well-resolved spatiotemporal mapping of light signals with excellent operational and mechanical stabilities at a bending radius down to 3 mm and in repeated bending tests for over 1000 cycles. Comprehensive analyses using finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) theoretical calculations, scanning near-field optical microscopy, and photoluminescence mapping reveal the effective light trapping effect of GNSs and the charge carrier transfer between the perovskite and graphene. This work provides a new design platform for flexible and high-performance photodetection systems. Flexible photodetectors that convert light into electric signals for applications including low-light photography can be improved using star-shaped flecks of gold. Single-atom thin graphene sheets have proven useful in many bendable photodetectors due to their favorable mechanical and electronic properties. South Korean researchers led by Hyunhyub Ko from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology and Joon Hak Oh at Seoul National University have now developed a technique to improve graphene’s response to light. By tweaking a typical nanoparticle synthesis method using a sulfur-based buffering agent, the team produced gold nanostars that trap light using localized field-enhanced regions around their spiky tips. Prototype devices, prepared by putting nanostar-coated graphene electrodes onto plastic substrates, could be flexed thousands of times while retaining sufficient light sensitivity for imaging purposes. Flexible high-performance hybrid graphene photodetectors have been developed by introducing both perovskite materials and gold nanostars. The developed photodetectors exhibit significantly enhanced optoelectronic performances due to the synergistic effects of hybrid system including high light absorption of perovskites and strong plasmonic effects of gold nanostars with high mechanical stability, which extends the range of their practical applications.

Polymer-based pressure sensors play a key role in realizing lightweight and inexpensive wearable devices for healthcare and environmental monitoring systems. Here, conductive core/shell polymer nanofibers composed of poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropene) (PVDF-HFP)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) are fabricated using three-dimensional (3D) electrospinning and vapor deposition polymerization methods, and the resulting sponge-like 3D membranes are used to create piezoresistive-type pressure sensors. Interestingly, the PEDOT shell consists of well-dispersed spherical bumps, leading to the formation of a hierarchical conductive surface that enhances the sensitivity to external pressure. The sponge-like 3D mats exhibit a much higher pressure sensitivity than the conventional electrospun 2D mats due to their enhanced porosity and pressure-tunable contact area. Furthermore, large-area, wireless, 16 × 10 multiarray pressure sensors for the spatiotemporal mapping of multiple pressure points and wearable bands for monitoring blood pressure have been fabricated from these 3D mats. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the fabrication of electrospun 3D membranes with nanoscopically engineered fibers that can detect changes in external pressure with high sensitivity. The developed method opens a new route to the mass production of polymer-based pressure sensors with high mechanical durability, which creates additional possibilities for the development of human–machine interfaces. A flexible material for creating wearable pressure sensors has been manufactured by scientists in Korea using a simple and cost-effective nanofiber-spinning technique. Wearable electronics require pliable materials that also conduct electricity. Joon Hak Oh and co-workers from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea, developed a pressure-sensitive material using electrospinning and vapor deposition polymerization. Conventionally, electrospinning forces a polymer solution through a narrow nozzle to create a two-dimensional network of fibers. These layers are then stacked to create a three-dimensional structure, but the small gaps between layers makes it less sensitive to forces applied from the top. The researchers manufactured a sponge-like three-dimensional nanofiber mat, which they coated with a spherical bump-shape conducting polymer. This three-dimensional membrane was nearly three times more sensitive to pressure changes than structures prepared using two-dimensional electrospinning. PVDF-HFP/PEDOT core/shell nanofibers with well-dispersed spherical bumps have been prepared using 3D electrospinning and vapor deposition polymerization methods, and their sponge-like 3D membranes are used to create piezoresistive-type pressure sensors. Owing to the enhanced porosity and pressure-tunable contact area, the sensors exhibit outstanding mechanoelectrical performance. Furthermore, large-area, wireless, 16 × 10 multi-array pressure sensors for spatiotemporal mapping of multiple pressing points and wearable bands for monitoring blood pressure have been fabricated from these 3D mats. The developed method opens up a new route for the mass production of polymer-based sensors, which is promising for biomedical diagnostics and environmental monitoring systems.

Chiral supramolecules have great potential for use in chiral recognition, sensing, and catalysis. Particularly, chiral supramolecular biocoordination polymers (SBCPs) provide a versatile platform for characterizing biorelated processes such as chirality transcription. Here, we selectively synthesize homochiral and heterochiral SBCPs, composed of chiral naphthalene diimide ligands and Zn ions, from enantiomeric and mixed R-ligands and S-ligands, respectively. Notably, we find that the chiral self-sorted SBCPs exhibit multifunctional properties, including photochromic, photoluminescent, photoconductive, and chemiresistive characteristics, thus can be used for various sensors. Specifically, these materials can be used for detecting hazardous amine materials due to the electron transfer from the amine to the SBCP surface and for enantioselectively sensing a chiral species naproxen due to the different binding energies with regard to their chirality. These results provide guidelines for the synthesis of chiral SBCPs and demonstrate their versatility and feasibility for use in various sensors covering photoactive, chemiresistive, and chiral sensors., Chiral supramolecules may be used in chiral recognition, sensing and catalysis. Here the authors selectively synthesized homochiral and heterochiral supramolecular biocoordination polymers of naphthalene diimide ligands with alanine termini and Zn ions.

Interfacial tension between two materials is a key parameter in determining their miscibility and, thus, their morphological behavior in blend films. In bulk heterojunction (BHJ)-type polymer solar cells (PSCs), control of the interfacial tension between the electron donor and the electron acceptor is critically important in order to increase miscibility and achieve optimized BHJ morphology for producing efficient exciton dissociation and charge transport. Herein, we report the synthesis of a series of indene-C60 bis-adducts (ICBA) derivatives by modifying their end-groups with fluorine (FICBA), methoxy (MICBA) and bromine (BICBA) functional units. We systematically studied the effects of their structural changes on the blend morphology with poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and their performance in the PSCs. The end-group modification of ICBA derivatives induced a dramatic change in their interfacial tensions with P3HT (i.e., from 4.9 to 8.3mN m−1), resulting in large variations in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the PSCs, ranging from 2.9 to 5.2%.

Mechanically robust, flexible and electrically conductive textiles are highly suitable for use in wearable electronic applications. In this study, highly conductive and flexible graphene/Ag hybrid fibers were prepared and used as electrodes for planar and fiber-type transistors. The graphene/Ag hybrid fibers were fabricated by the wet-spinning/drawing of giant graphene oxide and subsequent functionalization with Ag nanoparticles. The graphene/Ag hybrid fibers exhibited record-high electrical conductivity of up to 15,800 S cm−1. As the graphene/Ag hybrid fibers can be easily cut and placed onto flexible substrates by simply gluing or stitching, ion gel-gated planar transistors were fabricated by using the hybrid fibers as source, drain and gate electrodes. Finally, fiber-type transistors were constructed by embedding the graphene/Ag hybrid fiber electrodes onto conventional polyurethane monofilaments, which exhibited excellent flexibility (highly bendable and rollable properties), high electrical performance (μh = 15.6 cm2 V−1 s−1, Ion/Ioff > 104) and outstanding device performance stability (stable after 1,000 cycles of bending tests and being exposed for 30 days to ambient conditions). We believe that our simple methods for the fabrication of graphene/Ag hybrid fiber electrodes for use in fiber-type transistors can potentially be applied to the development all-organic wearable devices.

Recent graphene research has triggered enormous interest in new two-dimensional ordered crystals constructed by the inclusion of elements other than carbon for bandgap opening. The design of new multifunctional two-dimensional materials with proper bandgap has become an important challenge. Here we report a layered two-dimensional network structure that possesses evenly distributed holes and nitrogen atoms and a C2N stoichiometry in its basal plane. The two-dimensional structure can be efficiently synthesized via a simple wet-chemical reaction and confirmed with various characterization techniques, including scanning tunnelling microscopy. Furthermore, a field-effect transistor device fabricated using the material exhibits an on/off ratio of 107, with calculated and experimental bandgaps of approximately 1.70 and 1.96 eV, respectively. In view of the simplicity of the production method and the advantages of the solution processability, the C2N-h2D crystal has potential for use in practical applications., There is currently interest in two-dimensional graphene-like materials incorporating heteroatoms. Here, the authors synthesize a solution-processable, holey two-dimensional network with C2N stoichiometry containing evenly distributed holes and nitrogen atoms, and use it to fabricate a field effect transistor.

Conjugated polymers, such as polyfluorene and poly(phenylene vinylene), have been used to selectively disperse semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes (sc-SWNTs), but these polymers have limited applications in transistors and solar cells. Regioregular poly(3-alkylthiophene)s (rr-P3ATs) are the most widely used materials for organic electronics and have been observed to wrap around SWNTs. However, no sorting of sc-SWNTs has been achieved before. Here we report the application of rr-P3ATs to sort sc-SWNTs. Through rational selection of polymers, solvent and temperature, we achieved highly selective dispersion of sc-SWNTs. Our approach enables direct film preparation after a simple centrifugation step. Using the sorted sc-SWNTs, we fabricate high-performance SWNT network transistors with observed charge-carrier mobility as high as 12 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and on/off ratio of10(6). Our method offers a facile and a scalable route for separating sc-SWNTs and fabrication of electronic devices.

The charge transport properties critically depend on the degree of ordering of the chains in the solid state as well as on the density of chemical or structural defects. In general, goodelectronic performance requires strong electronic coupling between adjace nt molecules in the solid-state that yield strong intermolecular π-overlap. Herein, we newly designed and synthesized organic semiconducting materials having both aryl (Ar) and perfluoroaryl (FAr) as substituents for organic electronics along with molecular packing control. Regarding this molecular design, we hypothesized and expected that the Ar and FAr substituents would induce well-defined π-π stacking structure of charge transport units for high performance organic electronics devices.