Special Issue on Advances in Wearable Electronics in North America and Europe
Published 31 August, 2026
Introduction
Wearable electronics is a rapidly evolving interdisciplinary field encompassing electronics, materials science, engineering, biotechnology, healthcare, and data science. Advances in flexible and stretchable materials, miniaturized sensors, energy harvesting and storage, wireless communication, artificial intelligence, and human–machine interfaces are enabling a new generation of wearable technologies with increasingly sophisticated capabilities.
North America and Europe have vibrant research communities and innovation ecosystems advancing wearable electronics across materials research, device engineering, healthcare applications, sports and performance monitoring, human–computer interaction, and emerging commercial technologies. Entitled “Advances in Wearable Electronics in North America and Europe,” this special issue of Wearable Electronics will showcase recent scientific and technological developments from these regions and foster exchange among academic, clinical, industrial, and interdisciplinary communities.
We invite original research articles, review articles, perspectives, and other relevant contributions from researchers in North America and Europe, as well as international collaborators working with institutions or research teams in these regions. Submissions should address emerging developments in wearable electronics.
Topics of Interest
Topics include, but are not limited to:
- Flexible, stretchable, and printable electronics
- Wearable sensors and biosensors
- Electronic skin and human–machine interfaces
- Wearable health and biomedical devices
- Physiological and biochemical monitoring
- Smart textiles and textile-integrated electronics
- Wearable and implantable bioelectronics
- Energy harvesting, storage, and self-powered wearable systems
- Wireless power transfer and low-power wearable electronics
- Flexible displays, actuators, and haptic devices
- Soft electronics and soft robotics
- Wearable devices for sports, fitness, and human performance
- Wearable technologies for rehabilitation and assistive applications
- Wearable systems for remote and personalized healthcare
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning for wearable sensing
- Edge computing and intelligent wearable systems
- Wireless communication and Internet-of-Things-enabled wearables
- Data analytics, multimodal sensing, and digital biomarkers
- Materials and manufacturing technologies for wearable electronics
- Reliability, durability, biocompatibility, and sustainability
- Human factors, usability, and user-centered wearable design
- Privacy, security, ethics, and responsible development of wearable technologies
- Clinical translation, commercialization, and regulatory considerations
- Emerging applications and future directions in wearable electronics
Types of Contributions
The Special Issue welcomes:
- Original Research Articles
- Review Articles
- Perspectives
- Short Communications
- Commentaries
Contributions should present significant advances, critical insights, or emerging perspectives that are relevant to the field of wearable electronics.
Why Submit?
This Special Issue will provide an opportunity to:
- Highlight recent advances in wearable-electronics research across North America and Europe;
- Connect researchers from complementary disciplines and institutions;
- Promote collaboration between academia, healthcare, and industry;
- Showcase emerging technologies and applications with potential for real-world impact;
- Identify future research directions and challenges for the next generation of wearable electronics.
Submission Information
Manuscripts should be prepared according to the author guidelines of Wearable Electronics and submitted through the journal's online submission system. When submitting, authors should select the article type corresponding to this Special Issue and indicate “Advances in Wearable Electronics in North America and Europe” in the cover letter and/or submission system, as applicable. All submissions will undergo the journal's standard peer-review process and will be evaluated according to the journal’s editorial and publication policies.
Important Dates
Manuscript submission deadline: March, 2027
Expected publication: July, 2027
Submission Instructions
Please read the Guide for Authors before submitting. All articles should be submitted online, please select “ VSI:Advances in Wrbl Electrnc NA&EU” on submission.
We particularly encourage submissions that demonstrate interdisciplinary collaboration, technological innovation, translational potential, or clear contributions to addressing emerging challenges in wearable electronics. We look forward to receiving your contributions and to bringing together an outstanding collection of research highlighting the advances, opportunities, and future directions of wearable electronics in North America and Europe.
Guest Editors
Jun Chen
University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Dr. Jun Chen is currently an associate professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research focuses on soft matter innovation for healthcare and energy. He has published two books and 430 journal articles, with 330 of them being corresponding authors in Nature Review Bioengineering (3), Nature Materials (4), Nature Electronics (10), Nature Biotechnology (2), Nature Chemical Engineering (2), Nature Nanotechnology (1), Nature Sensors (2), Nature Cardiovascular Research (1), Nature Biomedical Engineering (1), Nature Communications (10), Science Advances (6), Chemical Reviews (2), Chemical Society Reviews (2), among others. With a current h-index of 142, Dr. Chen was identified to be one of the world's most influential researchers in the field of Materials Science on the Web of Science. Among his many accolades are the V. M. Watanabe Excellence in Research Award (1 faculty per year in UCLA Samueli School of Engineering), ACS Nano Lectureship, MRS Outstanding Early Career Investigator Award, Hisako Terasaki Young Innovator Award, Stephanie L Kwolek Prize, Shu Chien Early Career Award, Asian American Academy of Science and Engineering (AAASE) Rising Star Award, ASME Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering, BMES CMBE Rising Star Award, UCLA Faculty Mentor Award, UCLA Society of Hellman Fellows Award, Georgia Tech Alumni 40 Under 40, ONR Young Investigator Award, AHA Innovative Project Award, AHA Transformational Project Award, AHA's Second Century Early Faculty Independence Award, NIH UCLA CTSI KL2 Translational Science Award, BBRF Young Investigator Award, Okawa Foundation Research Award, Advanced Materials Rising Star, Materials Today Rising Star Award, Chem. Soc. Rev. Emerging Investigator Award, Nano Research Young Innovator Award, ACS PMSE Young Investigator Award, among others. He is a Fellow of American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Beyond his research activities, Dr. Chen serves as the Executive Editor-in-Chief of Med-X, a section editor for Biosensors and Bioelectronics, and associate editors for VIEW Medicine, Soft Science, MRS Communications, FlexMat, Iontronics, cMat, and Textiles. Additionally, he is a member of the advisory and editorial boards of over 20 journals, including Matter, Materials Today, Materials Today Energy, Nano-Mirco Letters, Cell Reports Physical Science, The Innovation, Nano Trends, Biomedical Technology, among others.
Cunjiang Yu
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
Dr. Cunjiang Yu is currently the Founder Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He received his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Arizona State University and completed postdoctoral training in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the fundamentals and translational applications of soft and bio electronics. His work has been recognized with numerous distinctions, including the IEEE Nanotechnology Council Technical Achievement Award, IEEE Nanotechnology Council Distinguished Lecturer, the ASME Materials Division Centennial Mid-Career Award, the ASME Thomas Hughes Young Investigator Award, the Society of Engineering Science Young Investigator Medal Award, the American Vacuum Society Young Investigator Award, the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, the NSF CAREER Award, the NIH Trailblazer Award, and MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 China, among others. He is a Fellow of ASME and AIMBE.
Sihong Wang
The University of Chicago, USA
Sihong Wang is an Associate Professor in the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago, USA. He received his Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014, and his Bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University in 2009. From 2015 to 2018, he was a postdoctoral fellow in Chemical Engineering at Stanford University. He has published over 90 papers in numerous high-impact journals, including Science, Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Electronics, Nature Sustainability, Matter, Nature Communications, Science Advances, etc. His research group currently focuses on soft polymeric bioelectronic materials and devices as the new generation of technology for biomedical studies and therapeutics. As of September 2026, his research has been cited more than 35,500 times and he has an H-index of 70. He is serving as an Associate Editor for Science Advances. He was recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics from 2020 to 2025, and was awarded the MRS Outstanding Early-Career Investigator Award, NIH Director's New Innovator Award, NSF CAREER Award, Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award, MIT Technology Review 35 Innovators Under 35 (TR35 Global List), Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator Award, Advanced Materials Rising Star Award, ACS PMSE Early-Stage Investigator Award, Georgia Tech 40 Under 40, Finalist for Falling Walls 2025 Science Breakthrough of the Year, iCANX Young Scientist Award, MRS Graduate Student Award, Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad, Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2012 by Physics World, etc.
Francisco Molina-Lopez
KU Leuven, Belgium
Dr. Francisco Molina-Lopez is currently an associate professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at KU Leuven, Belgium, where he leads research on printed and flexible electronics for energy harvesting, energy storage, and sustainable electronic devices. He received double degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics from the University of Granada (Spain) in 2009 and earned his Ph.D. in Microsystems Engineering from EPFL (Switzerland) in 2014. He subsequently carried out postdoctoral research at Stanford University under the supervision of Prof. Zhenan Bao and later worked as a senior touch module process engineer at Apple Inc. before joining KU Leuven in 2019. In the fields of printed electronics, organic thermoelectrics, flexible photovoltaics, and stretchable electronics, he has authored around 60 peer-reviewed publications, including over 20 as first or corresponding author, in leading journals such as Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Advanced Science, Nano Energy, Matter, and Science Advances, with a current h-index of 28.
His research program has attracted substantial competitive funding, including a €1.7 million European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (ERC-2020-STG 3DALIGN), as well as multiple projects funded by Horizon Europe, the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), and KU Leuven. His work has been recognized through several distinctions, including selection as an Advanced Materials Rising Star (2023) and the Gouden Krijtje (Golden Chalk) awards for Best Teacher and Funniest Teacher in the Master of Nanoscience, Nanotechnology and Nanoengineering program at KU Leuven.
Beyond his research activities, Dr. Molina-Lopez serves as Vice Chair of the IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) Benelux Section Chapter and regularly contributes to the scientific community as a reviewer for leading journals, including Nature, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, Advanced Energy Materials, Energy & Environmental Science, Joule, and Advanced Science. He has also served on research evaluation panels for the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) and as a evaluator for European Union research and innovation programs.
