The world is mostly composed of objects with non-planar surfaces. To efficiently exchange information with those objects, e.g., to monitor physiological signals from the human body, the device should maximize the contact area with those objects. To that end, the device should be flexible to conform to objects with cylindrical surfaces, or stretchable to objects with spherical or curvilinear surfaces. Soft electronics is not only about the form factor, but also about the design, fabrication, and integration of conventional materials and microelectronics. This technology has shown profound potential impacts on many areas, including personal electronics, energy, robotics, and healthcare.

The Xu group aims to engineer soft electronic devices to solve biomedical problems. Our research spans a broad range from fundamental synthesis of functional materials to fabrication and integration of heterogeneous building blocks for soft electronic devices, and application of these devices in different biomedical studies. In short: we make new materials and fabrication technique to develop soft electronic devices for solving biomedical problems.