ABSTRACT Soft polymers programmed with functional particles can be used to create intrinsically stretchable electronics. However, current approaches to fabricating such materials require

that the particles be first colloidally dispersed in a liquid monomer or polymer solution that have limited material compatibilities and necessitate precise control over the associated fluid

mechanics during the printing process. Here we report the direct incorporation of functional particles in soft polymers using particle engulfment, a process in which particles are

spontaneously subsumed by the polymer matrix via surface energy. The engulfment phenomenon occurs when the characteristic size of the particles is much smaller than the elastocapillary

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ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS ELASTIC INTEGRATED ELECTRONICS BASED ON A

STRETCHABLE N-TYPE ELASTOMER–SEMICONDUCTOR–ELASTOMER STACK Article 15 May 2023 MECHANICALLY DRIVEN STRATEGIES TO IMPROVE ELECTROMECHANICAL BEHAVIOUR OF PRINTED STRETCHABLE ELECTRONIC

SYSTEMS Article Open access 21 July 2020 ADVANCING INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS WITH LIQUID CRYSTAL NETWORK-BASED ADAPTIVE ELECTRONICS Article Open access 17 May 2024 DATA AVAILABILITY The data that

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5, 1217–1227 (2021). Article  MATH  Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS R.L. acknowledges support from the South China University of Technology start-up funding and Xiaomi

Young Talents Program. Y.L.K. acknowledges support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) NIBIB Trailblazer Award (grant no. R21-EB029563), NIH R01 Award (grant no. R01-EB032959),

Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program Award (grant no. N00014-23-1-2391) and CDMRP Discovery Award (grant no. HT9425-23-1-0041). J.S.H. acknowledges support from the National

Research Foundation (grant no. NRFF2017-07) and Ministry of Education (grant nos. MOE2016-T2-2-016 and MOE2016-T3-1-004). AUTHOR INFORMATION Author notes * These authors contributed equally:

Rongzhou Lin, Chengmei Jiang, Yong Lin Kong, John S. Ho. AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

Rongzhou Lin & Xianmin Zhang * Institute for Health Innovation and Technology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Rongzhou Lin, Benjamin C. K. Tee & John S. Ho *

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Chengmei Jiang, Sippanat Achavananthadith, Xin Yang & John S. Ho * Department of

Biomedical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Chengmei Jiang & Yuxin Liu * College of Biosystems Engineering and Food Science, Zhejiang University,

Hangzhou, China Chengmei Jiang & Jianfeng Ping * Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Hashina Parveen Anwar Ali & 

Benjamin C. K. Tee * The N.1 Institute for Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Benjamin C. K. Tee & John S. Ho * Smart Systems Institute, National University

of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore Benjamin C. K. Tee * Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA Yong Lin Kong Authors * Rongzhou Lin View author publications

You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Chengmei Jiang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Sippanat Achavananthadith

View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Xin Yang View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Hashina

Parveen Anwar Ali View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Jianfeng Ping View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed 

Google Scholar * Yuxin Liu View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Xianmin Zhang View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Benjamin C. K. Tee View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Yong Lin Kong View author publications You can also search

for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * John S. Ho View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS R.L., Y.L.K. and J.S.H. conceived and

planned the research. R.L. and C.J. performed the experiments and data analysis. S.A. and X.Y. supported design of wireless devices. H.P.A.A. supported mechanical characterization of soft

materials. R.L., Y.L.K. and J.S.H. wrote the paper with input from all the authors. All other authors contributed to discussing the data and commenting on the final manuscript. CORRESPONDING

AUTHORS Correspondence to Rongzhou Lin, Yong Lin Kong or John S. Ho. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. PEER REVIEW PEER REVIEW INFORMATION

_Nature Electronics_ thanks Kenjiro Fukuda and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer

Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary Table 1, Figs.

1–22 and Video Captions 1–6. SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO 1 Fabrication processes of particle engulfment and adhesion. SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO 2 Electrical resistance of engulfment and adhesion samples.

SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO 3 Robustness of engulfment and adhesion samples against tape peeling. SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO 4 Robustness of engulfment and adhesion samples against washing. SUPPLEMENTARY

VIDEO 5 Motion sensing via an NFC sensor node. SUPPLEMENTARY VIDEO 6 Motion sensing via a radio-frequency tag. SOURCE DATA SOURCE DATA FIGS. 2–4 Source data for Figs. 2b–f, 3g–i and 4c,f,i.

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permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Lin, R., Jiang, C., Achavananthadith, S. _et al._ Soft electronics based on particle engulfment printing. _Nat Electron_ 8, 127–134 (2025).

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-024-01291-0 Download citation * Received: 11 July 2024 * Accepted: 16 October 2024 * Published: 02 January 2025 * Issue Date: February 2025 * DOI:

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