Flexible electronics: from interactive on-skin devices to bio/medical applications

Extending 2D structures into 3D space has become a general trend in multiple disciplines, including electronics, photonics, plasmonics and magnetics. This approach provides means to modify conventional or to launch novel functionalities by tailoring curvature and 3D shape. We study fundamentals of 3D curved magnetic thin films [1] and explore their application potential for flexible electronics, eMobility and health. We put forth the concept of shapeable magnetoelectronics [2] for various applications ranging from automotive [3] through consumer electronics to virtual and augmented reality [4-7] applications. These activities impact several emerging research fields of smart skins, soft robotics and human-machine interfaces.
Highly compliant functional elements are exceptionally suited for bio/medical applications. Very recently we realized an implantable, multifunctional and highly compliant device for targeted thermal treatment of cancer [8]. We fabricated a flexible light weight diagnostic platform based on highly sensitive Si nanowire field effect transistors revealing remarkable limit of detection at 40 pM for Avian Influenza Virus (AIV) subtype H1N1 DNA sequences [9].
For the emerging field of biosensing technologies, we developed droplet-based magnetofluidic platforms encompassing integrated novel functionalities [10] including analytics in a flow cytometry format [11], magnetic barcoding and sorting of magnetically encoded emulsion droplets using flexible microfluidic devices [12]. These features are crucial to address the needs of modern medical research, e.g. drug discovery.

[1] R. Streubel et al., J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. (Review) 49, 363001 (2016)
[2] D. Makarov et al., Appl. Phys. Rev. (Review) 3, 011101 (2016).
[3] M. Melzer et al., Adv. Mater. 27, 1274 (2015).
[4] G. S. Cañón Bermúdez et al., Science Advances 4, eaao2623 (2018).
[5] G. S. Cañón Bermúdez et al., Nature Electronics 1, 589 (2018).
[6] P. N. Granell et al., npj Flexible Electronics 3, 3 (2019).
[7] J. Ge et al., Nature Communications 10, 4405 (2019).
[8] G. S. Cañón Bermúdez et al., Adv. Eng. Mater. 21, 1900407 (2019).
[9] D. Karnaushenko et al., Adv. Healthcare Mater. 4, 1517 (2015).
[10] G. Lin, D. Makarov et al., Lab Chip (Review) 17, 1884 (2017).
[11] G. Lin, D. Makarov et al., Small 12, 4553 (2016).
[12] G. Lin, D. Makarov et al., Lab Chip 14, 4050 (2014).