Ultra-Thin Nanomembrane Device Forms Soft, Seamless Interface With Living Tissue
janrinok writes:
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-ultra-thin-nanomembrane-device-soft.html
Researchers have developed a new class of ultra-thin, flexible bioelectronic material that can seamlessly interface with living tissues. They introduced a novel device called THIN (transformable and imperceptible hydrogel-elastomer ionic-electronic nanomembrane). THIN is a membrane just 350 nanometers thick that transforms from a dry, rigid film into an ultra-soft, tissue-like interface upon hydration.
[...] Biological tissues-especially vital organs such as the heart, brain, and muscles-are soft, curved, and constantly in motion. Even the thinnest existing bioelectronic devices can feel foreign, leading to poor adhesion, inflammation, and unstable signal acquisition. While ultrathin flexible devices have been developed, most still require adhesives, rigid packaging, or mechanical supports, particularly for dynamic tissues such as the heart or brain.
This challenge inspired the team to ask a simple but compelling question: "What if a device could become soft, sticky, and shape-adapting only when it touches tissue-like magic?"
That question led to the development of THIN, a transformable, substrate-free nanomembrane that self-adheres to wet tissue without sutures, adhesives, or external pressure. By exploiting hydration-triggered swelling, THIN self-adheres without sutures or external pressure even on microscopically folded or highly curved surfaces, which allows it to maintain long-term contact with the tissue.
The nanomembrane is specifically engineered by design to be "soft when wet" and "robust when dry." THIN consists of two layers-the first being a mussel-inspired, tissue-adhesive hydrogel (catechol-conjugated alginate; Alg-CA), and the second being a high-performance semiconducting elastomer, P(g2T2-Se).
Together they form a freestanding bilayer only 350 nm thick-nearly a thousand times thinner than a human hair. The device's bending stiffness decreases over a million-fold (to 9.08 * 10 GPam) when hydrated, allowing it to wrap around surfaces with curvature radii below 5 m-so soft that it becomes mechanically imperceptible to tissue.
Read more of this story at SoylentNews.