IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics - J-FLEX, Piscataway, NJ (2026)

05/12/2026

The latest issue of J-FLEX (Volume 5, Issue 5) was released yesterday!

Saeid Alamdar et al., representing a team from Irvine, CA, including Soheil Saadat, present an ultrathin, dual-band, dual-polarized antenna with improved isolation between the two polarizations, designed on a 248-μm thick flexible printed circuit (FPC) board. Maintaining high isolation between orthogonal polarizations across two-frequency bands is particularly challenging due to strong coupling through the patch structure and limited substrate thickness. An asymmetric dual-polarized patch antenna employing a partial differential feeding technique is proposed, in which only one port is differentially fed using a wideband coupled-line phase shifter integrated with a T-junction. This configuration effectively suppresses coupling and enhances isolation, achieving measured isolation better than −25 dB.

Fawzi Bouakkaz et al. led a team from France and Italy, including Riccardo Sargeni, Sylvie Lepilliet, Gianluca Fiori and Henri Happy, explore the use of a noncommercial inkjet printer prototype to fabricate high-frequency devices with microscale precision, achieving high-resolution gaps, uniform spacing as small as 9 μm, conductor widths of 50 μm, and a filter that operates at frequencies up to 50 GHz. The chosen substrate is paper as a sustainable, environmentally friendly, and flexible platform that offers adaptability for RF applications in dynamic environments. The printed CPWs demonstrate attenuation of 0.5 dB/mm at 10 GHz and 1.1 dB/mm at 50 GHz.

Smrutilekha Samanta et al., with Pydi Ganga M. Bahubalindruni, reports present a novel gain-boosted cross-coupled differential amplifier using only n-type amorphous indium–gallium–zinc-oxide (a-IGZO) thin-film transistor (TFT) technology. The proposed single-stage amplifier design exploits a cross-coupled regulated cascode topology with an auxiliary amplifier and capacitive bootstrapping load to improve the gain. The circuit has shown a gain–bandwidth product (GBWP) of 345 kHz, a figure of merit (FOM) of 1.86 MHz/mW, and a noise efficiency factor (NEF) of 27.48. The performance of the amplifier is validated with the electromyography (EMG) signals, using 3M gel-based electrodes.

Tejal Shinde et al. a team from TU Delft and India designed an automated paper strip reader (APSR) built on a Raspberry Pi 4B platform. The device integrates a closed chamber with uniform LED illumination, an USB camera, and Python-based image processing algorithms to quantify 15 water quality parameters, including pH, nitrate, chloride, and selected heavy metals. This cost-effective automated system provides a robust solution for reliable POC testing in low-resource environments, aligning with the World Health Organization (WHO) ASSURED criteria for diagnostic devices.

About the Cover: This cover illustrates the development of an ultra-thin flexible printed circuit (FPC) antenna for wearable electronics. The FPC platform is made of low-loss polyimide (LLPI) dielectric layers, copper conductors, and adhesive layers with the same dielectric constant. The antenna structure uses differential feeding, enabling a dual-band, dual-polarized antenna implementation on a thin flexible substrate. The antenna prototype is fabricated and tested, and it maintains its performance under conformal bending conditions. The proposed antenna is intended for integration on different parts of the body for wearable sensing and wireless communication applications, including vital-sign monitoring. This work demonstrates how thin and flexible antenna technology can be designed to enable lightweight, low-profile, and conformal electronic systems for wearable devices.

https://ieee-jflex.org/

J-FLEX is a joint publication of IEEE Sensors Council (SC), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS).

05/04/2026

May the 4th be with you!

04/24/2026

The latest issue of J-FLEX (Volume 5, Issue 4), a Special Issue, was released today!

This issue of IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics is a cross-society Special Issue featuring six papers. Brief versions of these works were previously presented at the 2025 IEEE International Flexible Electronics Technology Conference (IFETC) and the 2025 IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS), collocated on The University of British Columbia campus in Vancouver, BC, Canada (August 5–9, 2025).

As the demand for wearable health monitoring devices, electronic skin, and human–machine interfaces continues to grow, there is an increasing need for flexible form factors and for localized computational capabilities—giving rise to the era of “wearable intelligence.” The papers in this Special Issue present several innovations that address the inherent performance bottlenecks of flexible electronics for wearable intelligence applications, such as conformable health monitoring devices, smart electronic skins, and intelligent human–machine interfaces

About the Cover: Arial skyline of Vancouver. Photo by: iStock.com/muddymari

https://ieee-jflex.org/

J-FLEX is a joint publication of IEEE Sensors Council (SC), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS).

03/14/2026

Happy Pi Day from the IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics - J-FLEX!

03/12/2026

The latest issue of J-FLEX (Volume 5, Issue 3) was released today!

Paramita Kar Choudhury et al. present a fully solution processed, scalable fabrication route to realize high-performance carbon nanotube (CNT) TFT arrays on flexible substrates using inkjet printing. Our fully inkjet printed (FIJP) technique allows for the simplified manufacturability of CNT-TFTs with outstanding performance metrics. We demonstrate a scalable process with four-layer transistor configuration, achieving remarkable mobility values up to 40 cm2/(V-s) and an on/off ratio of ~105, one of the highest reported for fully printed CNT-TFTs to date. In situ curing methods, including photon sintering and plasma treatment, are integrated to enhance device robustness and overlay accuracy, crucial for roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing compatibility. These results demonstrate the viability of FIJP as a robust and industrially relevant platform for next-generation large-area flexible electronics, including displays, sensor arrays, and wearable systems.

S. Vanmathi et al. deals with enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs), which harness endogenous biofuels such as glucose to generate electricity, offering an alternative for sustainable energy harvesting within the body. The growing demand for reliable self-powered systems has led to an increased interest in long-term implantable medical devices. Glucose biofuel cells (GBFCs) present a promising energy source using the natural glucose found in bodily fluids. However, developing small and flexible electrodes remains a significant challenge. A novel, flexible bioelectrode made from embroidered silver (Ag) thread (ST) that can be safely implanted in a living, freely moving rat. In vitro testing of this embroidery-inspired EBFC achieved a power density (PD) of 132.5 μW/cm2. In vivo, we have performed with a Wistar rat, and the performance improved to 292 μW/cm2, which can be useful for portable and wearable electronics applications.

Sebina Yesmin et al. reports the successful design, fabrication and, characterization of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) nanosheets as electrode materials for supercapacitors (SCs). Herein, g-C3N4 was synthesized with the facile thermal polymerization method, and the electrochemical stability of the as-prepared g-C3N4 electrode was analyzed considering three different aqueous electrolytes 1-M Na2SO4 (neutral), 6-M KOH (alkaline), and 1-M H2SO4 (acidic). The best specific capacitance of g-C3N4 was obtained in an acidic medium (188.65 F/g) compared with alkaline (145.75 F/g) and neutral electrolyte (110.92 F/g) at a current density of 1 A/g. After 2000 charge–discharge cycles, capacity retentions of 70.53%, 73.98%, and 74.44% were achieved with neutral, alkaline, and acidic mediums, respectively. However, the energy density of 26.3, 20.25, and 15.5 Wh/kg was observed, whereas the maximum power density was obtained as 2.491, 2.486, and 2.482 kW/kg using acidic, alkaline, and neutral electrolytes, respectively.

About the Cover: Enzymatic biofuel cells (EBFCs), which generate energy from bodily glucose, provide a sustainable method of powering implantable medical equipment (pacemakers and cochlear implants). This study introduces a new flexible bioelectrode safely inserted in a Wistar rat. It is made from cotton fabric and embroidered with silver thread. To improve electron transport, the glucose biofuel cell uses enzyme-like Gox and laccase-based anode and cathode catalysts, supported by gold nanostructures and a biocompatible redox polymer. The power density in vitro was 132.5 µW cm−2, whereas in vivo implantation in a Wistar rat allowed it to produce 292 µW cm−2, with the help of a portable potentiostat, and device performance was monitored with a smartphone. For upcoming wearable and implantable microsystems, the findings provide a flexible, biocompatible, and reasonably priced energy source.

https://ieee-jflex.org/

J-FLEX is a joint publication of IEEE Sensors Council (SC), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS).

02/09/2026

The latest issue of J-FLEX (Volume 5, Issue 2) was released last Friday!

Sparsh Kapar et al. presents thin-film transistors (TFTs) for flexible displays, where driver circuits are typically implemented with off-panel CMOS logic, while the display pixels themselves use TFTs. This approach restricts the resolution enhancement of displays and causes significant power dissipation. Additionally, implementing CMOS-like logic with unipolar TFTs requires careful attention to power and voltage swing. The latest bootstrapped inverter technology has addressed some of these issues, demonstrating the use of unipolar TFTs in row-driver display circuits. In this article, we propose a row address decoder circuit for TFT-based displays that reduces dynamic power consumption through charge sharing on glass and flexible substrates. Measurement results show that the proposed design-based 3-to-8 decoder under various conditions saves on average 26.0% of the power compared to a state-of-the-art TFT-based decoder.

G. Samuelraj Chrysolite et al. addresses the high prevalence of problems related to lordosis/kyphosis among weightlifters, athletes, wrestlers, and IT professionals highlights the need for effective posture monitoring solutions. Common sensors used for posture monitoring include accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, inertial sensors, tilt sensors, flexible pressure sensors, and flexible strain sensors. Due to constraints such as sensitivity to environmental factors, power consumption, patient comfort, and bulkiness, a flexible adhesive capacitance-based superstrate infused complementary split ring resonator (CSRR)-based antenna sensor, which uses both the antenna’s electromagnetic field and sensor’s transducing property, is proposed. This proposed wearable antenna sensor offers a non-invasive and efficient approach to real-time posture monitoring, contributing to spinal health improvement for individuals prone to problems related to lordosis/kyphosis, thereby enhancing the ergonomic aspects in healthcare.

Apostolos Apostolakis et al. reports the fabrication and electrical characterization of fully inkjet-printed Ag/PEDOT:PSS/zinc oxide (ZnO) heterojunction devices on flexible polyimide (Kapton) substrates. All functional layers, including the bottom Ag electrode, p-type PEDOT:PSS, and n-type ZnO, are deposited exclusively by inkjet printing, enabling a scalable and low-temperature additive process compatible with large-area flexible electronics. These results highlight fully inkjet-printed PEDOT:PSS/ZnO heterojunctions on flexible substrates as promising candidates for low-cost, large-area artificial synapses and printed neuromorphic circuits.

About the Cover: The cover image illustrates a wearable posture monitoring system integrated along the human spine using flexible electronic sensors. The thoracic and lumbar sensors continuously capture spinal alignment and transmit data wirelessly to a processing unit. A mobile interface displays indicators for hyper kyphosis and hyper lordosis, enabling real-time posture assessment. The design highlights the role of smart, non-invasive electronics in advanced musculoskeletal health monitoring. Cover art by Samuelraj Chrysolite.

https://ieee-jflex.org/

J-FLEX is a joint publication of IEEE Sensors Council (SC), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS).

02/04/2026

IEEE Journal on Flexible Electronics (JFLEX) has surpassed both its fourth anniversary and the bibliometrics it had set forth during its inception. Let us take a moment to reflect on the JFLEX journey.

First, I am happy to report that the IEEE JFLEX Steering Committee reappointed me to a three-year term, extending my relationship with JFLEX, as the Founder and now as the Editor-in-Chief for 2023–2027.

But this is a team effort, and I would be remiss if I did not thank the IEEE Staff. Also, the support of our Associate Editor-in-Chief, Luisa Petti, has been invaluable.

A huge shout out to our associate editors, consisting of our JFLEX Editorial First Team (January 2025–December 2027): Joseph Chang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; Wei Gao, California Institute of Technology, USA; Sanghun Jeon, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea; Matti Mäntysalo, Tampere University, Finland; Gaetano Marrocco, University of Roma Tor Vergata, Italy; Kris Myny, KU Leuven Diepenbeek, Belgium; Tse Nga (Tina) Ng, University of California San Diego, USA; Luigi G. Occhipinti Occhipinti, University of Cambridge, U.K.; and Prof. V Ramgopal Rao, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India. This is completed by a staggered JFLEX Editorial Second Team (July 2023–June 2026), to bring continuity to the JFLEX team: Shweta Saxena Agarwala, Ahmedabad University, Gujarat, India; Prof. Dr. Jasmin Aghassi-Hagmann, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany; Massood Atashbar, IEEE Fellow, NextFlex Fellow Atashbar, Western Michigan University, USA; Sushmee Badhulika, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India, Pedro Barquinha, NOVA School of Science and Technology, Portugal; Mario Caironi, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy; Woo Soo Kim, Simon Fraser University, Canada; P Susthitha Menon Menon, The National University of Malaysia, Malaysia; Lijia Pan, Nanjing University, China; Sui-Dong Wang, Soochow University, China; and Gregory Whiting L. Whiting, University of Colorado Boulder, USA.

A new five-year Memorandum of Understanding (2026–2030) between IEEE Sensors Council (SC), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) has now codified this relationship with IEEE FLEPS and IEEE International Flexible Electronics Technology Conference (IFETC), linking an annual special issue in JFLEX from each conference.

IEEE JFLEX is routinely listed as a “High Performer” within IEEE for its Timeliness, particularly the average weeks from submission to first decision, ranging around 5.7 weeks.

IEEE Xplore Bibliometrics show IEEE JFLEX has garnered over 100 000 downloads overall, with citations per article up to 4.47, and climbing. Elsevier’s SCOPUS has listed the 2025 CiteScoreTracker at 5.0 citations per article (as of January 2026!).

Thank you to all our authors, readers, editors, guest editors, staff, and reviewers. Without you, there would be no IEEE journal celebrating flexible electronics.

Prof. Paul R. Berger, Ph.D.
Founding Editor-in-Chief, IEEE J-FLEX

01/16/2026

The latest issue of J-FLEX (Volume 5, Issue 1) was released yesterday! Included is an Editorial reflection by the Editor-in-Chief, Paul R. Berger, on the first four years of IEEE J-FLEX.

M. Ploner et al. presents wearable biosensors are transforming remote health monitoring with noninvasive sweat biomarker detection. Nevertheless, achieving reliable sensing requires miniaturized, flexible platforms capable of detecting, with ultrahigh sensitivity, biomarker levels down to pg/mL scale. Electrochemical platforms, especially those using three-electrode platforms, hold significant promise but require careful geometric optimization to meet these needs. To address this, we evaluated four geometric layouts of screen-printed carbon three-electrode platforms on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. Our findings highlight the need for compact designs and simulation-guided geometric optimization for enhanced performance.

R. Pawar et al. shows that metasurfaces enable subwavelength electromagnetic control with transformative wavefront engineering potential. We demonstrate a scalable, cost-effective fabrication route for high-performance metasurface collimators by printing silver nanostructures onto paper using silver halide photochemistry, eliminating complex inks and post-processing whilst enabling roll-to-roll compatibility. The paper-based metasurface antenna displays high gain with exceptional polarization purity and can be considered for demanding applications, such as satellite, radar, and advanced wireless systems.

L. Prasanthi and M. D. Prakash presents flexible and wearable electronics demand transistor technologies that can sustain stable performance under extreme mechanical deformation. In this work, we propose a quantitative benchmarking framework for strain resilience in organic thin film transistors (OTFTs), introducing three normalized metrics: degradation factor (DF), quantifying drain-current loss under strain; the mobility factor (MF), representing the rate of charge-transport degradation per unit strain; and the strain stability window (SSW), defining the maximum strain range
within which devices remain in the safe operating zone (DF < 15%).
These findings establish hybrid Al2O3/PVP dielectrics not only as performance enhancers but also as reliable design enablers for next-generation strain-resilient organic electronics.

About the Cover: The cover image illustrates a simulation-guided design framework for enhancing screen printed electrodes for wearable biosensing. The illustration integrates the flexible on-body configuration, the underlying multiphysics model, and the resulting electrochemical response. Collectively, these elements demonstrate how modeling-driven insights accelerate design optimization and elevate the performance of next-generation wearable sensing technologies. Cover art by Moritz Ploner and Lara Franchin.

https://ieee-jflex.org/

J-FLEX is a joint publication of IEEE Sensors Council (SC), IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS), and IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS).

12/19/2025

Happy Holidays to all our authors, readers, editors, staff and reviewers. Without you, there would be no IEEE journal celebrating flexible electronics.

And thank you to all as we bring a fourth amazing year to a conclusion.

12/06/2025

The latest issue of J-FLEX (Volume 4, Issue 12) was released today!

Muhammad M. Tahseen et al. present a novel concept of transforming complex and artistic geometries into antennas in the wireless local area network (WLAN) band. To be flexible for wearable applications, the antennas are embroidered on the textile material using conductive thread. The solid copper ground (GND) plane is made of shielded fabric, which provides the required flexibility. The simulated and measured performance of the antennas in terms of matching bandwidth, realized gain, radiation efficiency, and radiation patterns is presented, which shows good agreement (evaluated at 2.45 GHz).

Kaushik U. Godbole et al. aims to illustrate the electrical performance and the reliability of flexible materials under fatigue biaxial stretching. This article outlines an approach to perform fatigue biaxial stretching experiments to test the performance and reliability of stretchable materials before deployment. By conducting tests on stretchable thermoset substrate samples that were screen-printed with a silver micro-flake conductor ink, this work has developed a unique predictive model that relates the fatigue-life of the printed conductor as a function of the applied mean strain and the applied strain amplitude. In this work, it is found that the failure of the samples under biaxial fatigue loading is dependent on both the mean strain and strain amplitude.

Cláudia S. Buga and Júlio C. Viana presents a flexible multisensor platform integrating resistive pressure, temperature, and humidity sensors. Temperature sensors exhibited a linear thermal response, with a slight reduction in sensitivity after encapsulation. Humidity sensors, selectively left unencapsulated, maintained stable performance. Pressure sensors preserved their sensitivity profile, with enhanced low-pressure sensitivity (

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