Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, affecting one in ten people aged over 65 years. Despite the severity of the disease, early diagnosis of AD is still challenging due to the low accuracy or high cost of neuropsychological tests and neuroimaging. Here we report clinically accurate and ultrasensitive detection of multiple AD core biomarkers (t-tau, p-tau181, Aβ42, and Aβ40) in human plasma using densely aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The closely packed and unidirectionally aligned CNT sensor array exhibits high precision, sensitivity, and accuracy, evidenced by a low coefficient of variation (93.0%). By measuring the levels of t-tau/Aβ42, p-tau181/Aβ42, and Aβ42/Aβ40 in clinical blood samples, the sensor array successfully discriminates the clinically diagnosed AD patients from healthy controls with an average sensitivity of 90.0%, a selectivity of 90.0%, and an average accuracy of 88.6%.
Liquid metal is being regarded as a promising material for soft electronics owing to its distinct combination of high electrical conductivity comparable to that of metals and exceptional deformability derived from its liquid state. However, the applicability of liquid metal is still limited due to the difficulty in simultaneously achieving its mechanical stability and initial conductivity. Furthermore, reliable and rapid patterning of stable liquid metal directly on various soft substrates at high-resolution remains a formidable challenge. In this work, meniscus-guided printing of ink containing polyelectrolyte-attached liquid metal microgranular-particle in an aqueous solvent to generate semi-solid-state liquid metal is presented. Liquid metal microgranular-particle printed in the evaporative regime is mechanically stable, initially conductive, and patternable down to 50 μm on various substrates. Demonstrations of the ultrastretchable (~500% strain) electrical circuit, customized e-skin, and zero-waste ECG sensor validate the simplicity, versatility, and reliability of this manufacturing strategy, enabling broad utility in the development of advanced soft electronics.