A soft touch: Measuring the force it takes for a hand to grasp an object requires sensors to be placed on the fingertips, but these sensors will interfere with or affect how much force ends up being applied. Lee et al. developed a nanomesh sensor built from a series of electrospun materials (see the Perspective by Liu). Using a robotic tester, they show that this device can repeatably detect the pressure involved in gripping an object. They also show that the sensors can be attached to human fingers and that this does not affect the force used to grasp an object. Science , this issue p. 966 ; see also p. 910

Skin bioelectronics for long-term, continuous health monitoring opens unprecedented opportunities for timely disease management. This review summarized representative healthcare sensing, desired materials and designs, and various bio-signal analysis.

Hydrogel-enabled skin bioelectronics that can continuously monitor health for extended periods is crucial for early disease detection and treatment. However, it is challenging to engineer ultrathin gas-permeable hydrogel sensors that can self-adhere to the human skin for long-term daily use (>1 week). Here, we present a ~10-micrometer-thick polyurethane nanomesh–reinforced gas-permeable hydrogel sensor that can self-adhere to the human skin for continuous and high-quality electrophysiological monitoring for 8 days under daily life conditions. This research involves two key steps: (i) material design by gelatin-based thermal-dependent phase change hydrogels and (ii) robust thinness geometry achieved through nanomesh reinforcement. The resulting ultrathin hydrogels exhibit a thickness of ~10 micrometers with superior mechanical robustness, high skin adhesion, gas permeability, and anti-drying performance. To highlight the potential applications in early disease detection and treatment that leverage the collective features, we demonstrate the use of ultrathin gas-permeable hydrogels for long-term, continuous high-precision electrophysiological monitoring under daily life conditions up to 8 days.

Electrospun nanofibers have received considerable attention in the field of soft electronics owing to their promising advantages and superior properties in flexibility and/or stretchability, conductivity, and transparency; furthermore, their one-dimensional nanostructure, high surface area, and diverse fibrous morphologies are also desirable. Herein, we provide an overview of electrospun nanofiber-based soft electronics. A brief introduction of the unique structure and properties of electrospun nanofiber materials is provided, and assembly strategies for flexible/stretchable electronics are highlighted. We then summarize the latest progress in the design and fabrication of representative flexible/stretchable electronic devices utilizing electrospun nanofibers, such as flexible/stretchable conductors, sensors, energy harvesting and storage devices, and transistors. Finally, a conclusion and several future research directions for electrospun nanofiber-based soft electronics are proposed.