Conductive hydrogels from ionic liquids are widely used in soft electronics and solid electrolytes due to their high flexibility and conductivity. However, engineering such hydrogels with simultaneous biocompatibility, recyclability, excellent conductivity, stretchability, and toughness for different soft electronic applications remains challenging. This study presents a simple strategy to fabricate tough, biocompatible, and recyclable conductive hydrogels based on polyvinyl alcohol PVA and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate for highly stretchable strain sensors and all-in-one supercapacitors. These hydrogels can also be recycled to make new strain sensors with consistent performance in terms of linear sensitivity, durability, and low hysteresis. This simple design concept opens up new avenues for the development of the next generation "green" wearable and implantable electronic devices.

An international team of researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering at Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Riga Technical University, the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and the MESA+ Institute at the University of Twente has discovered a new method to generate electricity using small plastic beads. By placing these beads close together and bringing them into contact, they generate more electricity than usual. This process, known as triboelectrification, is similar to the static electricity produced when rubbing a balloon against hair.

Irresistible Materials, Ltd (IM), a leader in the development of novel resist materials for extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography, has announced the appointment of Dinesh R. Bettadapur as its new chief executive officer (CEO) and board director. 

It would be greatly beneficial to physicians trying to save lives in intensive care units if they could be alerted when a patient’s condition rapidly deteriorates or shows vitals in highly abnormal ranges. While current machine learning models are attempting to achieve that goal, a Virginia Tech study recently published in Communications Medicine shows that they are falling short with models for in-hospital mortality prediction, which refers to predicting the likelihood of a patient dying in the hospital, failing to recognize 66 percent of the injuries.

Empa researchers are working on artificial muscles that can keep up with the real thing. They have now developed a method of producing the soft and elastic, yet powerful structures using 3D printing. One day, these could be used in medicine or robotics – and anywhere else where things need to move at the touch of a button.

Cost, technical performance and environmental impact – these are the three most important aspects for a new type of LED technology to have a broad commercial impact on society. This has been demonstrated by researchers at Linköping University, Sweden, in a study published in Nature Sustainability.