Liquid–metal microgrid stretchable electronics based on bionic leaf veins with ultra-stretchability and high conductivity

Stretchable electronics that monitor joint activity and treat diseases based on liquid metal could be used in the development of healthcare applications. Such devices can be seamlessly integrated with human skin. However, most high-precision microstructures and complex patterns are difficult to fabricate due to the limitations of conventional fabrication solutions, resulting in suboptimal performance under practical conditions. Here, a liquid–metal stretchable system utilizing natural leaf veins was reported as microstructures, which was based on a biomimetic concept and utilized an all-solution process for the preparation of complex microstructures. The systems are ultra-high tensile (800% tensile strain), environmentally stable (20 days) and mechanically durable (300-cycle). The system can accurately recognize the wearer’s finger bending level as well as simple gesture signals. At the same time, the system acts as a wearable heater, which can realize the fast heating behavior of heating up to 50 °C in 3 min under the human body-safe voltage (1.5 V). The tensile stability is demonstrated by the heterogeneous integration of lasers (405 nm) with the system interconnects for a stretchable and wearable light source.