Sustainable Natural Bio‐Origin Materials for Future Flexible Devices

Abstract

Flexible devices serve as important intelligent interfaces in various applications involving health monitoring, biomedical therapies, and human-machine interfacing. To address the concern of electronic waste caused by the increasing usage of electronic devices based on synthetic polymers, bio-origin materials that possess environmental benignity as well as sustainability offer new opportunities for constructing flexible electronic devices with higher safety and environmental adaptivity. Herein, the bio-source and unique molecular structures of various types of natural bio-origin materials are briefly introduced. Their properties and processing technologies are systematically summarized. Then, the recent progress of these materials for constructing emerging intelligent flexible electronic devices including energy harvesters, energy storage devices, and sensors are introduced. Furthermore, the applications of these flexible electronic devices including biomedical implants, artificial e-skin, and environmental monitoring are summarized. Finally, future challenges and prospects for developing high-performance bio-origin material-based flexible devices are discussed. This review aims to provide a comprehensive and systematic summary of the latest advances in the natural bio-origin material-based flexible devices, which is expected to offer inspirations for exploitation of green flexible electronics, bridging the gap in future human-machine-environment interactions.

Recent progress in the development of smart supercapacitors

“…Compared with traditional supercapacitors, intelligent supercapacitors not only have all the characteristics of traditional capacitors (high power density, long cycle life, fast charging speed, and good rate performance) but also give them special functions by designing and regulating their electrode components and structures to meet the intelligence requirements in different environmental applications (Figure 1). [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38] In recent years, researchers have also performed a lot of research work on smart supercapacitors and made great progress. [39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] For example, an electrochromic smart supercapacitor, 39 that is, through the change in the color of the energy storage device, is used to visualize the amount of residual power of a device.…”

Amino‐Terminated Hyperbranched Polymer‐Based Recyclable Elastic Fibers for a Breathable and Antibacterial Triboelectric Nanogenerator

“…[7,8] Degradability and disposability of devices are significant for the future sustainability of wearables and bioelectronics. [9][10][11][12] Mechanical compliance that implies flexibility and stretchability is essential for on-skin devices to accommodate the deformation of human skin. [13,14] The frequently used traditional commercial elastomers with poor breathability would cause discomfort, allergy, and even dermatosis, not competent for long-term on-skin application.…”

Elastic Fibers/Fabrics for Wearables and Bioelectronics

“…), objects, and their surrounding environment, realizing more safe, efficient, and dynamic interactions or energy/information interchange. [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 ] Almost all the organisms, such as human beings, animals, and plants, require normal respiration to maintain their respective physiological function and normal growth. [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ] Functional electronics attached, worn on the organisms’ surface or implanted inside are desired to possess excellent permeability for air/moisture, ensuring comfortability, biosafety, and physiological metabolism.…”