A 10-micrometer-thick nanomesh-reinforced gas-permeable hydrogel skin sensor for long-term electrophysiological monitoring.

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.

Soft Bioelectronics for Therapeutics.

Soft bioelectronics play an increasingly crucial role in high-precision therapeutics due to their softness, biocompatibility, clinical accuracy, long-term stability, and patient-friendliness. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of the latest representative therapeutic applications of advanced soft bioelectronics, ranging from wearable therapeutics for skin wounds, diabetes, ophthalmic diseases, muscle disorders, and other diseases to implantable therapeutics against complex diseases, such as cardiac arrhythmias, cancer, neurological diseases, and others. We also highlight key challenges and opportunities for future clinical translation and commercialization of soft therapeutic bioelectronics toward personalized medicine.

Toward a new generation of permeable skin electronics.

Skin-mountable electronics are considered to be the future of the next generation of portable electronics, due to their softness and seamless integration with human skin. However, impermeable materials limit device comfort and reliability for long-term, continuous usage. The recent emergence of permeable skin-mountable electronics has attracted tremendous attention in the soft electronics field. Herein, we provide a comprehensive and systematic review of permeable skin-mountable electronics. Typical porous materials and structures are first highlighted, followed by discussion of important device properties. Then, we review the latest representative applications of breathable skin-mountable electronics, such as bioelectrical sensors, temperature sensors, humidity and hydration sensors, strain and pressure sensors, and energy harvesting and storage devices. Finally, a conclusion and future directions for permeable skin electronics are provided.

Dye Degrading and Fouling-Resistant Membranes Formed by Deposition with Ternary Nanocomposites of N-Doped Graphene/TiO2/Activated Carbon.

A ternary nanocomposite consisting of N-doped graphene (NGR)/TiO2/activated carbon (NGRT@AC) was prepared, and the components' synergetic effect on dye degradation was investigated after deposition on the surface of a polysulfone membrane (PSF). As far as we know, this ternary composite catalyst has never previously been used to degrade dyes nor been used as a functional layer for separation membranes. The surface morphology and structure of the as-prepared membranes were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The NGRT@AC-modified PSF membrane (NGRT@AC-PSF) presents excellent photodegradation efficiency to methyl orange (MO) under both UV (95.2%) and sunlight (78.1%) irradiation, much higher than those values of PSF, TiO2- modified PSF (TiO2-PSF), and N-doped graphene/TiO2 (NGRT)-modified PSF membranes (NGRT-PSF) under the same conditions. The high flux recovery ratio (95.5%) demonstrates that the NGRT@AC-PSF membrane shows improved antifouling performance. The photocatalytic results prove that surface deposition method (95.2%) was better than the blending method (31.1%) for forming high-performance membranes. Therefore, the NGRT@AC-PSF membrane has the potential for broad applications in dye degradation to treat waste water from textile industries.