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Soft Electronics

Macro photo of soft electronics
Photo: Klas Tybrandt

Combining softness and elasticity with electronic functionality in materials and devices.

Principal investigator: Klas Tybrandt

The living world around us is rarely flat, but often soft and constantly deforming. It is a grad challenge to adapt our hard and rigid technology to fit these geometrical and mechanical constraints. The Soft Electronics group develops composite materials, design concepts and devices to meet this challenge, moving electronics into the realm of soft and deforming systems.

Soft and elastic electrically conductive and semiconductive composite materials can be developed based on nanomaterials/conjugated polymers and elastomers. By tailoring the properties of the conductive filler and the morphology of the composite, high performance functional materials that can sustain large deformations can be achieved. The interaction between the nanostructured conductive filler and the elastomer matrix is of particular interest for understanding and developing new materials and devices.

Within the Soft Electronics group, which is part of the Laboratory of Organic Electronics LOE, we develop materials, design concepts and devices to address the challenges of soft and elastic electronics. We synthesize and employ nanomaterials and conductive polymers to develop composite materials based on a variety of rubbers. Another focus is fabrication technologies, a necessity for bringing our materials and concepts into actual components and devices. We address a wide range of applications, spanning from soft neural interfaces and bioelectronics to deformable displays and thermoelectrics.

Our long-term goal is to develop a technology which can transform our modern-day electronics into something which seamlessly can be integrated into most aspects of human life through various human-machine interfaces.

The Soft Electronics group is part of the and the . The group is funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation (KAW), the European Research Council (ERC), the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), the Swedish Research Council (VR), the Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Advanced Functional Materials at Linköping University (AFM), the ÅFORSK foundation, and VINNOVA.

Soft Electronics research leaders

Research areas and major projects

Videos about soft electronics

Microelectrodes as soft as the human body

A new soft and elastic technology for neural implants have been developed in a collaboration between Linköping University, ETH Zurich, New York University and Columbia University, led by Assistant Professor Klas Tybrandt. The softness enables chronic integration of electronics with sensitive tissue, making it attractive for a wide range of biomedical applications.

Develops soft electronics for the treatment of Parkinson's and epilepsy

The electronics should not be hard and rigid like normal electronics, but soft and malleable so that it can be integrated into the brain and nerves without damaging the tissue. The basis of the technology that he and his research group are developing are gold nanowires and the result is small, soft gel-spikes that can be used deep inside the brain to do more precise and gentler so-called deep brain stimulation to treat Parkinson's and epilepsy.

Damaged nerves can be replaced with soft electronics 

If electronics was soft and compliant, it could be implanted in the body and help people with nerve damage. But not only that, the uses for this type of electronics are innumerable. Energy storage for example. This is what our research is about. Watch the movie from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) here!
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A fluid battery that can take any shape

Electric syrup, battery paste or energy goo? Here's a battery that fills and adapts to any space. Only your imagination sets the limits.

News

Reseracher in lab.

New master’s programmes in world-leading materials science

¸£Àû¼§ is one of the world’s leading universities in materials science. The autumn of 2026 will see the launch of two new master’s programmes in this field. The students can look forward to an excellent labour market.

A flexible battery pulled in different directions.

A fluid battery that can take any shape

Using electrodes in a fluid form, researchers at LiU have developed a battery that can take any shape. This soft and conformable battery can be integrated into future technology in a completely new way.

Close-up illustrating that the gold nanowires combined with soft silicon rubber are stretchable.

Soft gold enables connections between nerves and electronics

Gold does not readily lend itself to being turned into long, thin threads. But researchers at LiU have now managed to create gold nanowires and develop soft, stretchable electrodes that can be connected to the nervous system.

Publications

2025

Filippa Wentz, Mohsen Mohammadi, Klas Tybrandt, Magnus Berggren, Rickard Arvidsson, Aiman Rahmanudin (2025) Journal of Materials Chemistry C (Article, review/survey)
Mohsen Mohammadi, Jin Shang, Yuyang Li, Aiman Rahmanudin, Darius Jakonis, Magnus Berggren, Lars Herlogsson, Klas Tybrandt (2025) Small, Vol. 21, Article 2501175 (Article in journal)
Mohsen Mohammadi, Saeed Mardi, Jaywant Phopase, Filippa Wentz, Jibin Joseph Joseph Samuel, Ujwala Ail, Magnus Berggren, Reverant Crispin, Klas Tybrandt, Aiman Rahmanudin (2025) Science Advances, Vol. 11, Article eadr9010 (Article in journal)
Jin Shang, Mohsen Mohammadi, Jan Strandberg, Ioannis Petsagkourakis, Jessica Ahlin, Olle Hagel, Yangpeiqi Yi, Lars Herlogsson, Klas Tybrandt (2025) NPJ FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS, Vol. 9, Article 19 (Article in journal)
Neha Sepat, Mikhail Vagin, Stefano Carli, Edoardo Marchini, Stefano Caramori, Qilun Zhang, Slawomir Braun, Zhixing Wu, Penghui Ding, Kosala Wijeratne, Ioannis Petsagkourakis, Ujwala Ail, Eleni Pavlopoulou, Tero-Petri Ruoko, Simone Fabiano, Klas Tybrandt, Mats Fahlman, Reverant Crispin, Magnus Berggren, Viktor Gueskine, Isak Engquist (2025) Small, Vol. 21, Article 2409471 (Article in journal)

2024

Changbai Li, Sajjad Naeimipour, Fatemeh Rasti Boroojeni, Tobias Abrahamsson, Xenofon Strakosas, Yangpeiqi Yi, Rebecka Rilemark, Caroline Lindholm, Venkata Perla, Chiara Musumeci, Yuyang Li, Hanne Biesmans, Marios Savvakis, Eva Olsson, Klas Tybrandt, Mary Donahue, Jennifer Gerasimov, Robert Selegård, Magnus Berggren, Daniel Aili, Daniel Simon (2024) SMALL SCIENCE, Vol. 4, Article 2400290 (Article in journal)
Chaoyang Kuang, Shangzhi Chen, Mingna Liao, Aiman Rahmanudin, Debashree Banerjee, Jesper Edberg, Klas Tybrandt, Dan Zhao, Magnus Jonsson (2024) NPJ FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS, Vol. 8, Article 55 (Article in journal)
Aiman Rahmanudin, Mohsen Mohammadi, Patrik Isacsson, Yuyang Li, Laura Seufert, Nara Kim, Saeed Mardi, Isak Engquist, Reverant Crispin, Klas Tybrandt (2024) Materials Horizons, Vol. 11, p. 4400-4412 (Article in journal)
Laura Seufert, Mohammed Elmahmoudy, Charlotte Theunis, Samuel Lienemann, Yuyang Li, Mohsen Mohammadi, Ulrika Boda, Alejandro Carnicer-Lombarte, Renee Kroon, Per Persson, Aiman Rahmanudin, Mary Donahue, Simon Farnebo, Klas Tybrandt (2024) Small, Vol. 20, Article 2402214 (Article in journal)
Samuel Lienemann, Ulrika Boda, Mohsen Mohammadi, Tunhe Zhou, Ioannis Petsagkourakis, Nara Kim, Klas Tybrandt (2024) ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 16, p. 38365-38376 (Article in journal)

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