Flexible Nanofibrous Electronics

About This Grant

Emerging wearable technologies promise transformative capabilities in personal health, environmental monitoring, and smart textiles. However, current wearable systems often rely on rigid components, adhesives, or external batteries that limit comfort, adaptability, and long-term usability. These limitations create significant barriers to continuous, real-world use, hindering progress toward truly seamless integration of electronics with the human body. To address these challenges, this project introduces a new class of flexible nanofibrous devices that are lightweight, breathable, self-powered, and capable of converting body motion into usable energy while simultaneously performing on-body sensing. By leveraging advanced materials science and innovative fabrication techniques, these nanofibrous devices eliminate the dependence on bulky, rigid components, significantly enhancing user comfort and enabling long-term use. The resulting technologies have broad potential applications spanning fitness, rehabilitation, environmental sensing, and consumer wearables, where comfort, durability, and reliability are critical. Beyond technological innovation, this project also contributes substantially to STEM education by providing multidisciplinary research opportunities for students, integrating new course modules into the NJIT engineering curriculum, and engaging with K–12 outreach programs designed to inspire and broaden participation in STEM fields. This project focuses on designing and fabricating flexible, breathable, and biocompatible nanofibrous devices for next-generation flexible electronics. The primary goals include developing advanced porous nanomaterials with enhanced mechanical-to-electrical energy conversion capabilities, establishing versatile and scalable fabrication methods, such as electrospinning combined with dynamic phase separation, to precisely control nanostructure formation within individual fibers, and demonstrating effective self-powered biomechanical energy harvesting from various body locations to enable comfortable, integrated sensing devices. These devices are designed to harvest biomechanical energy generated by natural body movements, such as walking, joint articulation, and other common motions, converting it into electrical energy to power embedded sensors without reliance on batteries. The intellectual merit of this work lies in its interdisciplinary approach, advancing foundational knowledge at the intersection of materials science, nanomanufacturing, and bioelectronic device integration. By bridging these fields, the project establishes a foundation for the development of adaptive, sustainable, and multifunctional wearable systems. Furthermore, it introduces a versatile platform technology with wide-ranging applications in health monitoring, smart textiles, environmental sensing, and human-machine interfaces. Complementing the technical research, the project incorporates comprehensive educational initiatives including new curriculum development, multidisciplinary student training, and outreach efforts, fostering innovation and broadening participation in STEM fields. These combined research and education activities strengthen both technological advancement and societal impact, ensuring that the benefits of flexible nanofibrous electronics extend beyond the laboratory to positively influence health, industry, and workforce development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.