Selectively damping materials for next-generation motion-artifact-free skin-interfaced soft bioelectronics

Skin-interfaced bioelectronics are particularly susceptible to motion artifacts, and their increasingly miniaturized integrated circuits are mechanically fragile and prone to damage from external forces. These limitations hinder their reliability for long-term, continuous monitoring of physiological signals. Emerging selective-damping materials provide a promising route to overcome these limitations by absorbing and dissipating mechanical vibrations, thereby enhancing stability in prolonged wear. This review begins by outlining the challenges that motion artifacts pose for soft bioelectronic devices and the current mitigation strategies, followed by an introduction of emerging damping material design approaches tailored to the requirements of skin-interfaced bioelectronics. It further highlights the application of selective-damping materials in soft bioelectronics, with an emphasis on biosensing (electrophysiological and electrochemical signals) and mechanical shock protection. Lastly, several challenges that need to be addressed are discussed before the practical deployment of soft bioelectronics integrated with selective-damping materials.