Materials for semiconductor devices that can bend, fold, twist, and stretch

New methods for the synthesis and deterministic assembly of advanced classes of nanomaterials enable integration of high-performence semiconductors with elastomeric substrates. These capabilities provide the foundations for a high-performance electronic and optoelectronic technology that can offer linear elastic mechanical responses to large strain deformations. The results create new opportunities in materials and device engineering, with important consequences in fields ranging from biomedicine to machine vision. This article summarizes the key materials science concepts and presents illustrative examples of their recent use in injectable, cellular-scale optoelectronic devices and in hemispherical compound eye cameras.