Explore the vast range of titles available.

Conjugated polymers (CPs) are promising semiconductors for intrinsically stretchable electronic devices. Ideally, such CPs should exhibit high charge mobility, excellent stability, and high stretchability. However, converging all these desirable properties in CPs has not been achieved via molecular design and/or device engineering. This work details the design, synthesis and characterization of a random polythiophene (RP-T50) containing ~50 mol% of thiophene units with a thermocleavable tertiary ester side chain and ~50 mol% of unsubstituted thiophene units, which, upon thermocleavage of alkyl chains, shows significant improvement of charge mobility and stability. Thermal annealing a RP-T50 film coated on a stretchable polydimethylsiloxane substrate spontaneously generates wrinkling in the polymer film, which effectively enhances the stretchability of the polymer film. The wrinkled RP-T50-based stretchable sensors can effectively detect humidity, ethanol, temperature and light even under 50% uniaxial and 30% biaxial strains. Our discoveries offer new design rationale of strategically applying CPs to intrinsically stretchable electronic systems. Conjugated polymers are promising semiconductors for stretchable electronic devices but combining important properties such as high charge mobility, stability and stretchability remains challenging. Here, the authors demonstrate the synthesis of a thiophene based semiconducting polymer with cleavable side chains which shows significant improvement of charge mobility, stability and stretchability.

Human skin plays a critical role in a person communicating with his or her environment through diverse activities such as touching or deforming an object. Various electronic skin (E‐skin) devices have been developed that show functional or geometrical superiority to human skin. However, research into stretchable E‐skin that can simultaneously distinguish materials and textures has not been established yet. Here, the first approach to achieving a stretchable multimodal device is reported, that operates on the basis of various electrical properties of piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and piezoresistivity and that exceeds the capabilities of human tactile perception. The prepared E‐skin is composed of a wrinkle‐patterned silicon elastomer, hybrid nanomaterials of silver nanowires and zinc oxide nanowires, and a thin elastomeric dielectric layer covering the hybrid nanomaterials, where the dielectric layer exhibits high surface roughness mimicking human fingerprints. This versatile device can identify and distinguish not only mechanical stress from a single stimulus such as pressure, tensile strain, or vibration but also that from a combination of multiple stimuli. With simultaneous sensing and analysis of the integrated stimuli, the approach enables material discrimination and texture recognition for a biomimetic prosthesis when the multifunctional E‐skin is applied to a robotic hand. Fingerpad‐inspired multimodal electronic skin (E‐skin) is developed by mimicking functional and geometrical properties of a human finger. This multifunctional device can identify and distinguish not only mechanical stress from a single stimulus such as pressure, tensile strain, or vibration but also that to a combination of multiple stimuli, enabling material discrimination and texture recognition for a biomimetic prosthesis.

User‐interactive electronic skin (e‐skin) with a distinguishable output has enormous potential for human–machine interfaces and healthcare applications. Despite advances in user‐interactive e‐skins, advances in visual user‐interactive therapeutic e‐skins remain rare. Here, a user‐interactive thermotherapeutic device is reported that is fabricated by combining thermochromic composites and stretchable strain sensors consisting of strain‐responsive silver nanowire networks on surface energy‐patterned microwrinkles. Both the color and heat of the device are easily controlled through electrical resistance variation induced by applied mechanical strain. The resulting monolithic device exhibits substantial changes in optical reflectance and temperature with durability, rapid response, high stretchability, and linear sensitivity. The approach enables a low‐expertise route to fabricating dynamic interactive thermotherapeutic e‐skins that can be used to effectively rehabilitate injured connective tissues as well as to prevent skin burns by simultaneously accommodating stretching, providing heat, and exhibiting a color change. User‐interactive thermotherapeutic electronic skin (e‐skin) is fabricated by combining thermochromic composites and stretchable strain sensors consisting of strain‐responsive silver nanowire networks on surface energy‐patterned microwrinkles. Both the color and heat of the device are easily controlled through electrical resistance variation induced by external mechanical strain. This e‐skin can be applied to effectively rehabilitate a connective tissue injury, being avoided from skin burns.

Monitoring crops’ biotic and abiotic responses through sensors is crucial for conserving resources and maintaining crop production. Existing sensors often have technical limitations, measuring only specific parameters with limited reliability and spatial or temporal resolution. Wearable sensing systems are emerging as viable alternatives for plant health monitoring. These systems employ flexible materials attached to the plant body to detect nonchemical (mechanical and optical) and chemical parameters, including transpiration, plant growth, and volatile organic compounds, alongside microclimate factors like surface temperature and humidity. In smart farming, data from real‐time monitoring using these sensors, integrated with Internet of Things technologies, can enhance crop production efficiency by supporting growth environment optimization and pest and disease management. This study examines the core components of wearable standalone systems, such as sensors, circuits, and power sources, and reviews their specific sensing targets and operational principles. It further discusses wearable sensors for plant physiology and metabolite monitoring, affordability, and machine learning techniques for analyzing multimodal sensor data. By summarizing these aspects, this study aims to advance the understanding and development of wearable sensing systems for sustainable agriculture. This review explores the development and application of wearable sensing systems for plant health monitoring. It examines different types of wearable plant sensors, including their design, working principles, and material choices, with an emphasis on their suitability for real‐world agricultural applications.

Saccharina japonica, one of the most widely cultivated brown algae species, is considered a promising biorefinery feedstock due to its high carbohydrate content. Dilute acid hydrolysis can be performed to recover sugars from S. japonica; however, the impact of sugar derivatives (potential inhibitors) generated during the hydrolysis process on lactic acid production remains unexplored. In this study, the inhibitory effects of sugar derivatives on the fermentation performance of Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus were systematically examined to enhance the bioconversion efficiency of S. japonica. Firstly, the sugar derivatives present in S. japonica hydrolysate were identified, revealing the presence of acetic acid, formic acid, and furfural. Subsequently, their inhibitory effects on lactic acid production were assessed, demonstrating significant inhibition (p < 0.05) at the following concentrations: > 2 g/L acetic acid, > 0.5 g/L formic acid, and > 1 g/L furfural. Based on the information, 5% H2SO4 was determined to be the optimal solvent for S. japonica hydrolysis, enabling the production of hydrolysate with high fermentable sugar content and minimal sugar derivatives: 23.23 g/L mannitol, 0.86 g/L glucose, 0.21 g/L acetic acid, 0.14 g/L formic acid, and no detectable furfural. The resulting S. japonica hydrolysate contained sugar derivatives at non‐inhibitory levels, allowing for direct application to fermentation without detoxification. As a result, lactic acid production and yield were determined to be 18.26 g/L and 92.3%, respectively, comparable to the control group (17.32 g/L and 87.6%). This study addresses a critical knowledge gap in the bioconversion of macroalgae to lactic acid by elucidating the effects of sugar derivatives on fermentation performance. This study addresses a critical knowledge gap in the bioconversion of macroalgae (Saccharina japonica) to lactic acid by elucidating the effects of sugar derivatives on fermentation performance. First, the sugar derivatives present in S. japonica hydrolysate were identified as acetic acid, formic acid, and furfural. Next, their inhibitory effects on lactic acid production were assessed, and 5% sulfuric acid was determined as the optimal solvent, enabling maximization of sugar recovery and minimization of sugar derivatives. Finally, the hydrolysate was directly applied to the fermentation, showing efficient lactic acid production (18.26 g/L and 92.3% yield) similar to the control.

As an alternative to thermionic X‐ray generators, cold‐cathode X‐ray tubes are being developed for portable and multichannel tomography. Field emission propagating from needle structures such as carbon nanotubes or Si tips currently dominates related research and development, but various obstacles prevent the widespread of this technology. An old but simple electron emission design is the planar tunnelling cathode using a metal–oxide–semiconductor (MOS) structure, which achieves narrow beam dispersion and low supplying voltage. Directly grown vertical graphene (VG) is employed as the gate electrode of MOS and tests its potential as a new emission source. The emission efficiency of the device is initially ≈1% because of unavoidable fabrication damage during the patterning processes; it drastically improves to >40% after ozone treatment. The resulting emission current obeys the Fowler–Nordheim tunnelling model, and the enhanced emission is attributed to the effective gate thickness reduction by ozone treatment. As a proof‐of‐concept experiment, a clustered array of 2140 cells is integrated into a system that provides mA‐class emission current for X‐ray generation. With pulsed digital excitations, X‐ray imaging of a chest phantom, demonstrating the feasibility of using a VG MOS electron emission source as a new and innovative X‐ray generator is realized. Vertical graphene is integrated onto a tunnelling cathode device, and the effective electrode thickness is reduced by ozone treatments for highly efficient electron emission. The demonstration of digital X‐ray imaging implies that compact X‐ray machines can be developed using a combination of graphene and silicon technology.

The alignment of nanowires (NWs) has been actively pursued for the production of electrical devices with high-operating performances. Among the generally available alignment processes, spin-coating is the simplest and fastest method for uniformly patterning the NWs. During spinning, the morphology of the aligned NWs is sensitively influenced by the resultant external drag and inertial forces. Herein, the assembly of highly and uniaxially aligned silicon nanowires (Si NWs) is achieved by introducing an off-center spin-coating method in which the applied external forces are modulated by positioning the target substrate away from the center of rotation. In addition, various influencing factors, such as the type of solvent, the spin acceleration time, the distance between the substrate and the center of rotation, and the surface energy of the substrate, are adjusted in order to optimize the alignment of the NWs. Next, a field-effect transistor (FET) incorporating the highly aligned Si NWs exhibits a high effective mobility of up to 85.7 cm2 V−1 s−1, and an on-current of 0.58 µA. Finally, the single device is enlarged and developed in order to obtain an ultrathin and flexible Si NW FET array. The resulting device has the potential to be widely expanded into applications such as wearable electronics and robotic systems.

Skin-mounted electronic systems face unique constraints arising from soft, curved, and continuously deforming biological interfaces, where energy availability is weak, distributed, and time dependent. While advances in stretchable sensors have enabled conformal signal acquisition, power delivery remains the dominant limitation. In self-powered skin electronics, energy delivery cannot be treated as an independent subsystem but must be considered as an architectural component inseparable from sensing. Both ambient energy harvesters and flexible batteries operate under identical constraints of limited power, mechanical deformation, and minimal tolerance for loss. Conventional discrete power architectures amplify inefficiencies through routed interconnects and interfaces, leading to energy dissipation, mechanical instability, and signal degradation. This Research Highlight emphasizes monolithic integration as a unifying architectural principle that minimizes separation between energy delivery and sensing. By suppressing routing and interfaces, monolithic architectures preserve signal fidelity and enable reliable self-powered operation at the skin interface.

IPv6 developed as a next generation Internet protocol will provide us with safer and more efficient driving environments as well as convenient and infotainment features in cooperative intelligent transportation systems (ITS). In this paper, we introduce the use of pseudonyms in IPv6 ITS communications for preserving location privacy. We conduct qualitative study on the performance degradation due to the use of pseudonyms and quantitative analysis on the optimal pseudonym change interval. Numerical results demonstrate that an appropriate pseudonym change interval should be changed depending on the packet arrival rate, mobility rate, and security level.