Artificial Skins and Wearable Biosensors for Healthcare Monitoring—2nd Edition

A special issue of Biosensors (ISSN 2079-6374). This special issue belongs to the section "Biosensor and Bioelectronic Devices".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 October 2025 | Viewed by 516

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Physics and Microelectronics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Interests: flexible and stretchable electronics; flexible thermoelectric devices for low-grade energy harvesting; piezoelectric nanogenerator; multifunctional sensors; e-skin; human-machine interfaces
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Physics and Microelectronics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Interests: human–machine interaction sensor; flexible electronic skin; piezoelectric nanogenerator; flexible piezoresistive sensor; semiconductor device
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Artificial skin, also known as electronic skin (e-skin), refers to intelligent wearable electronics that simulate the tactile perception function of human skin to identify the detected external information changes through different electrical signals. Flexible e-skin can achieve a wide range of functions, such as the accurate detection and identification of pressure, strain, and temperature, which has greatly extended their application potential in the field of healthcare monitoring and human–machine interactions. Current research on flexible tactile sensors is developing towards high-resolution, high-sensitivity, and self-powering properties; visualization; biodegradability; and self-healing. However, considering the urgent demand and rapid application of flexible sensing technology in various emerging applications, there remains a great challenge in how to achieve quantification, multi-function, high stability, and durability in the actual detection process. This Topic provides an excellent opportunity for those who are studying and working on the design and applications of wearable electronics to contribute their findings and analyses. Research papers, review articles, and communications relating to the material development, structural design, mechanism interpretation, preparation process, and related circuit design of artificial skins are all welcome.

Prof. Dr. Yanchao Mao
Dr. Pengcheng Zhu
Dr. Lijun Lu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • artificial skin
  • tactile sensors
  • wearable electronics
  • healthcare monitoring
  • human–machine interaction

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Review

35 pages, 6415 KiB  
Review
Recent Advances in Conductive Hydrogels for Electronic Skin and Healthcare Monitoring
by Yan Zhu, Baojin Chen, Yiming Liu, Tiantian Tan, Bowen Gao, Lijun Lu, Pengcheng Zhu and Yanchao Mao
Biosensors 2025, 15(7), 463; https://doi.org/10.3390/bios15070463 - 18 Jul 2025
Viewed by 327
Abstract
In recent decades, flexible electronics have witnessed remarkable advancements in multiple fields, encompassing wearable electronics, human–machine interfaces (HMI), clinical diagnosis, and treatment, etc. Nevertheless, conventional rigid electronic devices are fundamentally constrained by their inherent non-stretchability and poor conformability, limitations that substantially impede their [...] Read more.
In recent decades, flexible electronics have witnessed remarkable advancements in multiple fields, encompassing wearable electronics, human–machine interfaces (HMI), clinical diagnosis, and treatment, etc. Nevertheless, conventional rigid electronic devices are fundamentally constrained by their inherent non-stretchability and poor conformability, limitations that substantially impede their practical applications. In contrast, conductive hydrogels (CHs) for electronic skin (E-skin) and healthcare monitoring have attracted substantial interest owing to outstanding features, including adjustable mechanical properties, intrinsic flexibility, stretchability, transparency, and diverse functional and structural designs. Considerable efforts focus on developing CHs incorporating various conductive materials to enable multifunctional wearable sensors and flexible electrodes, such as metals, carbon, ionic liquids (ILs), MXene, etc. This review presents a comprehensive summary of the recent advancements in CHs, focusing on their classifications and practical applications. Firstly, CHs are categorized into five groups based on the nature of the conductive materials employed. These categories include polymer-based, carbon-based, metal-based, MXene-based, and ionic CHs. Secondly, the promising applications of CHs for electrophysiological signals and healthcare monitoring are discussed in detail, including electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), electromyogram (EMG), respiratory monitoring, and motion monitoring. Finally, this review concludes with a comprehensive summary of current research progress and prospects regarding CHs in the fields of electronic skin and health monitoring applications. Full article
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