Metamaterial (MM) sensors and devices, usually consisting of artificially structured composite materials with engineered responses that are mainly determined by the unit structure rather than the bulk properties or composition, offer new functionalities not readily available in nature. A set of implantable and resorbable therapeutic MM devices at terahertz (THz) frequencies are designed and fabricated by patterning magnesium split ring resonators on drug-loaded silk protein substrates with controllable device degradation and drug release rates.
Epidermal electronics, an emerging class of wearable electronic devices that are mounted on the human skin with conformal contact for direct skin-sensor interactions, are especially appealing for the “Internet of Things” and next-generation wearable medical applications.[1–5] Ideal skin-mounted devices should naturally comply with the epidermis with conformal contact and adequate adhesion for human objects engaged in intensive and prolonged physical activities.
Advances in soft and/or flexible electronics enable powerful tools to promote developments of neurophysiology and relevant biomedical diagnosis and therapies of neurologicaldisorders (e.g., epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, depression, and peripheral nervous disorders), particularly for application cases with brain–machine interfaces (BMIs).
Recently, pure organic room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) with long afterglow has become a research hotspot for its potential applications in areas such as biological imaging, digital encryption, and opto-electronic devices.[1, 2] Meanwhile, because of the long excited-state relaxation lifetime, phosphorescent materials also show great value in catalysis, sensing, and photovoltaic fields.
Recently, physically transient devices—a form of devices that can physically disappear in aqueous solutions or biofluids—have attracted extensive attention for their great potentials in biomedicine, medical implants, and information security. Various degradable polymers—including naturally extracted and synthetic ones such as proteins, polysaccharides, polycaprolactone (PCL), polyglycolic acid (PGA), and polylactic acid (PLA)—have been explored as the substrates and encapsulating materials that can dissolve in the body or the environment in a controlled fashion.