The continuous pursuit of better human life promotes the ceaseless advances of intelligent community. Flexible electronics have emerged as a brand new form to compensate or even replace traditional rigid materials-based electronic devices. Owing to their distinct merits in terms of ductility, stretchability and ultrathinness etc., flexible devices can be seamlessly mounted onto the human skin or other complex object surfaces, which unprecedentedly bridges our human body, environment and machines. They have presented diverse intriguing applications in healthcare, human-machine-environment interfaces, energies, intelligent robots, the Internet-of-Things etc. Therefore, they have been considered as next-generation smart electronics.

There are a variety of categories of flexible devices, such as flexible electrodes, sensors, batteries, supercapacitors, solar cells. In principle, two strategies are employed to construct flexible electronical devices including materials innovation and structural design. In particular, functional nanomaterials are considered as indispensable parts of flexible electronics. The past decade has witnessed the development of various functional nanomaterials, mainly including nanoparticles, nanowires, nanosheets and nanoporous materials. They can be applied as dopants, conductive interconnections, active sensing units or performance-enhanced elements.

Therefore, the development of functional nanomaterials is of high significance for practical applications of flexible electronics. The purpose of this issue is to present the latest state-of-the-art research progress on emerging nanomaterials for flexible electronics as well as research trends and application prospects. Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

(1) Nanoparticles on flexible electronics

(2) Nanowires on flexible electronics

(3) Nanosheets on flexible electronics

(4) Nanoporous on flexible electronics

(5) Hydrogels on flexible electronics

(6) Liquid metal on flexible electronics

(7) Polymers on flexible electronics

(8) Composites on flexible electronics

Related applications include (but are not limited to):

(1) Wearable electronics

(2) Human-machine-environment interfaces

(3) Robotics

(4) Internet-of-Things

(5) Artificial Intelligence

(6) Intelligent agriculture

(7) Implantable electronics