Wearable systems that monitor muscle activity, store data and deliver feedback therapy are the next frontier in personalized medicine and healthcare. However, technical challenges, such as the fabrication of high-performance, energy-efficient sensors and memory modules that are in intimate mechanical contact with soft tissues, in conjunction with controlled delivery of therapeutic agents, limit the wide-scale adoption of such systems. Here, we describe materials, mechanics and designs for multifunctional, wearable-on-the-skin systems that address these challenges via monolithic integration of nanomembranes fabricated with a top-down approach, nanoparticles assembled by bottom-up methods, and stretchable electronics on a tissue-like polymeric substrate. Representative examples of such systems include physiological sensors, non-volatile memory and drug-release actuators. Quantitative analyses of the electronics, mechanics, heat-transfer and drug-diffusion characteristics validate the operation of individual components, thereby enabling system-level multifunctionalities.

Deformable full-colour light-emitting diodes with ultrafine pixels are essential for wearable electronics, which requires the conformal integration on curvilinear surface as well as retina-like high-definition displays. However, there are remaining challenges in terms of polychromatic configuration, electroluminescence efficiency and/or multidirectional deformability. Here we present ultra-thin, wearable colloidal quantum dot light-emitting diode arrays utilizing the intaglio transfer printing technique, which allows the alignment of red–green–blue pixels with high resolutions up to 2,460 pixels per inch. This technique is readily scalable and adaptable for low-voltage-driven pixelated white quantum dot light-emitting diodes and electronic tattoos, showing the best electroluminescence performance (14,000 cd m−2 at 7 V) among the wearable light-emitting diodes reported up to date. The device performance is stable on flat, curved and convoluted surfaces under mechanical deformations such as bending, crumpling and wrinkling. These deformable device arrays highlight new possibilities for integrating high-definition full-colour displays in wearable electronics.

Implantable endovascular devices such as bare metal, drug eluting, and bioresorbable stents have transformed interventional care by providing continuous structural and mechanical support to many peripheral, neural, and coronary arteries affected by blockage. Although effective in achieving immediate restoration of blood flow, the long-term re-endothelialization and inflammation induced by mechanical stents are difficult to diagnose or treat. Here we present nanomaterial designs and integration strategies for the bioresorbable electronic stent with drug-infused functionalized nanoparticles to enable flow sensing, temperature monitoring, data storage, wireless power/data transmission, inflammation suppression, localized drug delivery, and hyperthermia therapy. In vivo and ex vivo animal experiments as well as in vitro cell studies demonstrate the previously unrecognized potential for bioresorbable electronic implants coupled with bioinert therapeutic nanoparticles in the endovascular system.