{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T00:56:38Z","timestamp":1777683398187,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":39,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,25]],"date-time":"2026-04-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777075200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52405598"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52405598"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["52375548"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["52375548"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100002858","name":"Postdoctoral Innovation Talents Support Program","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["BX20220251"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["BX20220251"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100002858","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Basic Research Open Project of Shandong Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Green Manufacturing at Yantai","award":["AMGM2024F34"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AMGM2024F34"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nanomaterials"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Voice disorders severely limit verbal communication, creating a need for intuitive assistive technologies. To meet this need, we present epidermal strain sensors that capture strain signals during silent speech and hand gesture. A thin electrospun nanofiber layer integrated onto commercial polyurethane films guides uniform, controlled microcrack formation in screen-printed carbon conductive paths, achieving a gauge factor up to 243 over 0\u201340% strain. Signals from the seven-channel strain sensor array are recognized by a hybrid neural network that combines convolutional and Transformer architectures, reaching over 98% accuracy. The recognized outputs are rendered in virtual reality (VR), enabling intuitive, real-time communication. Moreover, the approach simplifies fabrication by enabling crack-based strain sensing with only a thin electrospun surface layer on commercial polyurethane films, eliminating the need for thick freestanding electrospun substrates. This cost-effective approach addresses limitations of conventional electrospun substrates by minimizing the thickness of the electrospun layer, thereby shortening the electrospinning time. Overall, the work demonstrates a method for translating natural non-verbal expressions into speech and text in VR, with promising applications in healthcare and assistive communication.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nano16090520","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,29]],"date-time":"2026-04-29T07:43:51Z","timestamp":1777448631000},"page":"520","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Electrospun Surface-Modified Epidermal Strain Sensors Enable Silent Speech and Hand Gesture Recognition for Virtual Reality Interaction"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7432-0689","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zuowei","family":"Wang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, International Joint Laboratory for Micro\/Nano Manufacturing and Measurement Technologies, Xi\u2019an 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Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University, Xi\u2019an 710049, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yueming","family":"Gao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Rehabilitation Medicine and Ninth Department of Health Care, The Second Medical Center & National Clinical Research Center for Geriatric Diseases, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing 100853, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Wufeng","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The 214th Institute of China North Industries Group, Suzhou 215163, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jiawen","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, International Joint Laboratory for Micro\/Nano Manufacturing and Measurement Technologies, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University, Xi\u2019an 710049, 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China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0723-3571","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dan","family":"Xian","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, International Joint Laboratory for Micro\/Nano Manufacturing and Measurement Technologies, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University, Xi\u2019an 710049, China"},{"name":"The School of Instrument Science and Technology, Shaanxi Innovation Center for Special Sensors and Testing Technology in Extreme Environments, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University, Xi\u2019an 710049, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ping","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, International Joint Laboratory for Micro\/Nano Manufacturing and Measurement Technologies, Xi\u2019an Jiaotong University, Xi\u2019an 710049, 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