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Lin et al. Soft Sci 2023;3:14 Soft Science
DOI: 10.20517/ss.2023.05

Review Article Open Access

Recent progress in soft electronics and robotics

based on magnetic nanomaterials

1
Xiang Lin , Mengdi Han 2,*
1
School of Biomedical Engineering, Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen 518000, Guangdong, China.
2
Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Future Technology, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
*Correspondence to: Prof. Mengdi Han, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Future Technology, No. 5
Yiheyuan Road, Haidian District, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. E-mail: hmd@pku.edu.cn

How to cite this article: Lin X, Han M. Recent progress in soft electronics and robotics based on magnetic nanomaterials. Soft Sci
2023;3:14. https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/ss.2023.05

Received: 1 Feb 2023 First Decision: 6 Mar 2023 Revised: 26 Mar 2023 Accepted: 15 Apr 2023 Published: 9 May 2023

Academic Editors: Yihui Zhang, Young Min Song Copy Editor: Dong-Li Li Production Editor: Dong-Li Li

Abstract
Recent advancements in soft electronics and robotics have expanded the possibilities beyond the capabilities of
traditional rigid devices, indicating promise for a range of applications in electronic skins, wireless biomedical
devices, and others. Magnetic materials exploited in these soft systems can further broaden the modalities in
sensing and actuation. These magnetic materials, when constructed in the forms of nanoparticles,
nanomembranes, or other types of nanostructures, exhibit some unique characteristics, such as the
magnetoresistance effect and size-dependent coercivity. Soft electronics and robotics employing such magnetic
nanomaterials offer a variety of functions, including the detection of the intensity and direction of magnetic fields,
measurement of various types of mechanical deformations, manipulation and transport at small scales, and
multimodal complex locomotion in a controllable fashion. Despite recent advancements in soft electronics and
robotics, challenges remain in developing advanced materials and manufacturing schemes to improve performance
metrics and facilitate integration with other devices. This review article aims to summarize the progress made in
soft electronics and robotics based on magnetic nanomaterials, with an emphasis on introducing material and
device performance. The discussions focus on soft electronics and robotics based on magnetic
nanomembranes/nanostructures and magnetic composites. As a concluding remark, this article summarizes the
current status of the field and discusses opportunities that underpin future progress.

Keywords: Soft electronic, soft robotics, magnetic nanomaterials

© The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as
long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and
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