Drop-printing with dynamic stress release for conformal wrap of bioelectronic interfaces

Drop-printing with dynamic stress release for conformal wrap of bioelectronic interfaces

Science

10.1126/science.adw6854

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adw6854

An Li, Wenjianlong Zhou, Huizeng Li, Wei Fang, Yifei Luo, Zheng Li, Qingrong Zhang, Quan Liu, Qin Xu, Luanluan Xue, Kaixuan Li, Renxuan Yuan, Wanling Liu, Wang Jia, Xiaodong Chen, Yanlin Song

11 September 2025

Li, A., Zhou, W., Li, H., Fang, W., Luo, Y., Li, Z., Zhang, Q., Liu, Q., Xu, Q., Xue, L., Li, K., Yuan, R., Liu, W., Jia, W., Chen, X., & Song, Y. (2025). Drop-printing with dynamic stress release for conformal wrap of bioelectronic interfaces. Science, 389(6765), 1127–1132. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adw6854

Bioelectronic interfaces demonstrate promising applications in health monitoring, medical treatment, and augmented reality. However, conformally wrapping these film devices onto three-dimensional surfaces often leads to stress-induced damage. We propose a “drop-printing” strategy that enables damage-free film transfer using a droplet. The droplet acts as a lubricating layer between the film and the target surface, facilitating local sliding during shape-adaptive deformation. This mechanism prevents in-plane film stretching and reduces stress concentration. Even nonstretchable and fragile films can be intactly and accurately wrapped onto delicate surfaces, such as microscale microorganisms and optical fibers. Two-micrometer-thick silicon films, without any stretchable engineering, can form conformal neural-electronic interfaces by being drop-printed on nerves and brain tissue. The interfaces achieve light-controlled in vivo neuromodulation with high spatiotemporal resolution.

Publisher Copyright

This research / project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China - NA
Grant Reference no. : 52321006, T2394484, 22272182, 52293473, 82402429, 12202248, 82372528

This research / project is supported by the NA - National Key R&D Program of China
Grant Reference no. : 2023YFE0111500, 2024YFF1502800

This research / project is supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation - NA
Grant Reference no. : 2023M733554, 2024T170940

This research / project is supported by the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS - NA
Grant Reference no. : 2023039

This research / project is supported by the NA - Beijing Nova Program
Grant Reference no. : 20230484291, 20240484643

This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science on Vol. 389, No. 6765, DOI: 10.1126/science.adw6854

https://oar.a-star.edu.sg/communities-collections/articles/22282

0036-8075
1095-9203

Institute of Materials Research and Engineering