Recently, the research group led by Yongquan Qing from Northeastern University published a systematic review on the cutting-edge advances of superhydrophobic wearable strain sensors. This paper sorts out existing fabrication strategies from four major design dimensions: substrate and conductive material selection, construction of superhydrophobic surfaces, integrated manufacturing processes, and multifunctional integration. Based on three critical failure drawbacks including chemical corrosion, mechanical degradation and abrupt wetting transition, it categorically analyzes various failure origins and corresponding reinforcement strategies. The coupled cascading failure mechanisms induced by the interplay of chemical, mechanical and wetting factors are elaborated, and a complete set of quantitative testing protocols and robustness evaluation criteria are established. Finally, the prevailing challenges are summarized, and prospective research directions are outlined.
As a vital bridge connecting physiological signals and intelligent electronic systems, wearable strain sensors have undergone rapid development in human health monitoring, human-machine interaction, and special environment detection. Nevertheless, conventional devices are highly vulnerable to harsh conditions such as sweat, oil contamination, acid/alkali corrosion, extreme temperatures, ultraviolet radiation and water immersion, which trigger fractures of conductive networks, loss of hydrophobic performance and severe signal drift, hindering their industrial translation beyond laboratory prototypes. Superhydrophobic modification leverages the lotus leaf effect to construct solid-gas composite interfaces that repel water and contaminants, emerging as a mainstream strategy to enhance the environmental tolerance of sensors.
Breaking the limitation of separate failure analysis in previous works, this review systematically elaborates the compound failure laws of sensors from three coupled dimensions: chemical erosion, mechanical damage and interfacial wetting, and establishes a theoretical framework for multi-factor synergistic failure. Furthermore, it pioneers a robustness optimization paradigm oriented toward failure mechanisms and defines quantitative evaluation metrics including contact angle retention, resistance drift and cycling stability, filling the gap of unified design and testing standards in this field. Additionally, this work summarizes integrated material-structure-function fabrication strategies to address bottlenecks in humid, underwater and biologically contaminated scenarios. It also highlights cutting-edge research priorities such as eco-friendly low-surface-energy raw materials and universal testing specifications, delivering comprehensive theoretical foundations and engineering roadmaps for next-generation amphibious flexible sensing devices.
The article presents a full-chain review covering structural design, functional integration, robustness reinforcement and evaluation criteria of superhydrophobic wearable strain sensors. It systematically sorts out research advances in four core directions: material screening, superhydrophobic surface construction, multifunctional modification and failure prevention, summarizes the root causes and corresponding optimization strategies of chemical, mechanical and wetting-induced failures, addresses the insufficient understanding of multi-factor coupled failure, and establishes standardized industrial evaluation protocols for robustness.
Current devices still face practical challenges including inadequate long-term stability under harsh coupled environments, obstacles to low-cost large-scale manufacturing, and a lack of eco-friendly fluorine-free hydrophobic materials. Future research should focus on developing novel integrated materials with synergistic multiple protective mechanisms, iteratively optimizing material formulations and device structures based on unified evaluation standards, and accelerating the industrial translation of superhydrophobic sensors from laboratory prototypes to all amphibious application scenarios such as underwater diving monitoring, outdoor security surveillance and wearable medical health monitoring.
Title:
Superhydrophobic Wearable Strain Sensors: From Strategic Design to Robustness Paradigm
Journal Name: Nano-Micro Letters
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40820-026-02220-w
URL: https://scholarcast.cast.org.cn/top-news/2078131147693748224
Nano-Micro Letters
Experimental study
Not applicable
Superhydrophobic Wearable Strain Sensors: From Strategic Design to Robustness Paradigm
1-Jun-2026