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Abstract Paper, an inexpensive material with natural biocompatibility, non‐toxicity, and biodegradability, allows for affordable and cost‐effective substrates for unconventional advanced electronics, often called papertronics. On the other hand, polymeric elastomers have shown to be an excellent success for substrates of soft bioelectronics, providing stretchability in skin wearable technology for continuous sensing applications. Although both materials hold their unique advantageous characteristics, merging both material properties into a single electronic substrate reimagines paper‐based bioelectronics for wearable and patchable applications in biosensing, energy generation and storage, soft actuators, and more. Here, a breathable, light‐weighted, biocompatible engineered stretchable paper is reported via coaxial nonwoven microfibers for unconventional bioelectronic substrates. The stretchable papers allow intimate bioconformability without adhesive through coaxial electrospinning of a cellulose acetate polymer (sheath) and a silicone elastomer (core). The fabricated cellulose‐silicone fibers exhibit a greater percent strain than commercially available paper while retaining hydrophilicity, biocompatibility, combustibility, disposable, and other natural characteristics of paper. Moreover, the nonwoven stretchable cellulose‐silicone fibrous mat can adapt conventional printing and fabrication process for paper‐based electronics, an essential aspect of advanced bioelectronic manufacturing.
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This content will become publicly available on August 1, 2026
Multifunctional Fibrous Mats: Stretchable, Conductive, and Hydrophilic Platforms for Wearable Electronics
The field of soft wearable bioelectronics requires materials that are flexible, stretchable, biocompatible, and capable of being used over long durations. Although polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is one of the most commonly used substrates for these devices due to its biomimetic properties compared to biological tissues, its intrinsic hydrophobicity causes it to underperform in biological environments. In this work, a hydrophilic, stretchable PDMS electrospun fibrous mat is developed to overcome this limitation by incorporating the amphiphilic polymer polyethylene glycol block copolymer (PEG‐BCP) into the porous PDMS matrix. The nonwoven hydrophilic silicone mat shows apparent improvement in stable hydrophilicity, indicated by a significant decrease in water contact angle (from 125° to 51°) for 7 days, along with improved cellular adhesion and enhanced breathability. The PDMS‐PEG fibers show higher cell proliferation than unmodified PDMS fibers, suggesting potential for long‐term biological applications. The fibrous mat also maintains its structural integrity under mechanical stress, demonstrated by a stretchability of up to 308.8% strain with reduced adhesion forces. This novel material surpasses previous PDMS fibrous substrates and enables electroless gold plating, providing a promising future for wearable fibrous electronics and biomedical devices featuring hydrophilic, stretchable, conductive, and biointegrated materials.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2238173
- PAR ID:
- 10646274
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-VCH GmbH
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Materials Technologies
- Volume:
- 10
- Issue:
- 15
- ISSN:
- 2365-709X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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