Journal article
Three-dimensional shrinking electronics on freestanding and freeform curvilinear surfaces
Science advances, v 11(41), eaea8051
10 Oct 2025
PMID: 41061071
Abstract
Wearable electronics that adapt to three-dimensional (3D) surfaces are essential for next-generation smart internet of things (IoT), yet existing strategies remain limited because of fabrication complexity, material incompatibility, or poor structural control. Here, this work introduces a scalable yet versatile approach to design and fabricate 3D electronic systems by printing liquid metal patterns onto heat-shrinkable polymer substrates. Upon controlled thermal actuation, the 2D circuits transform into target 3D geometries with enhanced electrical performance. The resulting 3D shrinking electronics enable conformal antenna integration for IoT devices and gesture-interactive wearable interfaces. This low-cost, versatile platform offers a paradigm for customizable, shape-adaptive electronics in intelligent real and virtual environments.
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Details
- Title
- Three-dimensional shrinking electronics on freestanding and freeform curvilinear surfaces
- Creators
- Yangbo Yuan - Pennsylvania State UniversityDongliang Chen - Pennsylvania State UniversityJianyu Li - Pennsylvania State UniversityBowen Li - Pennsylvania State UniversityAbu Musa Abdullah - Drexel UniversityFatema Tuz Zohra - Pennsylvania State UniversityWanqing Zhang - Pennsylvania State UniversityXianzhe Zhang - Pennsylvania State UniversityXin Xin - Pennsylvania State UniversityMohammad Ali Amidian - Pennsylvania State UniversityAnkan Dutta - Pennsylvania State UniversityFeifei Shi - Pennsylvania State UniversityHuanyu Cheng - Pennsylvania State University
- Publication Details
- Science advances, v 11(41), eaea8051
- Publisher
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
- Number of pages
- 12
- Grant note
- NIH: U01DA056242, R21EB030140 NSF: 2309323, 2319139, 2243979 Penn State UniversityNational Science Foundation: 2239690
H.C. acknowledges the support provided by NIH (award nos. U01DA056242 and R21EB030140), NSF (grant nos. 2309323, 2319139, and 2243979), and Penn State University. F.S. thanks the support from the National Science Foundation under grant no.2239690.
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:001589822300031
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-105018289611
- Other Identifier
- 991022123332904721
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Materials Science, Multidisciplinary