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Lv J, Thangavel G, Xin Y, Gao D, Poh WC, Chen S, Lee PS. Printed sustainable elastomeric conductor for soft electronics. Nat Commun 2023; 14:7132. [PMID: 37932285 PMCID: PMC10628110 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-42838-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The widespread adoption of renewable and sustainable elastomers in stretchable electronics has been impeded by challenges in their fabrication and lacklustre performance. Here, we realize a printed sustainable stretchable conductor with superior electrical performance by synthesizing sustainable and recyclable vegetable oil polyurethane (VegPU) elastomeric binder and developing a solution sintering method for their composites with Ag flakes. The binder impedes the propagation of cracks through its porous network, while the solution sintering reaction reduces the resistance increment upon stretching, resulting in high stretchability (350%), superior conductivity (12833 S cm-1), and low hysteresis (0.333) after 100% cyclic stretching. The sustainable conductor was used to print durable and stretchable impedance sensors for non-obstructive detection of fruit maturity in food sensing technology. The combination of sustainable materials and strategies for realizing high-performance stretchable conductors provides a roadmap for the development of sustainable stretchable electronics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jian Lv
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
- Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise (SHARE), Smart Grippers for Soft Robotics (SGSR), Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise, Singapore, 138602, Singapore
- Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, State Key Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, 710049, Xi'an, China
| | - Gurunathan Thangavel
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
- Advanced Materials Research Center, Technology Innovation Institute (TII), Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, P.O. Box 9639, United Arab Emirates
| | - Yangyang Xin
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
- Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise (SHARE), Smart Grippers for Soft Robotics (SGSR), Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise, Singapore, 138602, Singapore
| | - Dace Gao
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
| | - Wei Church Poh
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
| | - Shaohua Chen
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore
| | - Pooi See Lee
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50, Nanyang Avenue, Singapore, 639798, Singapore.
- Singapore-HUJ Alliance for Research and Enterprise (SHARE), Smart Grippers for Soft Robotics (SGSR), Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise, Singapore, 138602, Singapore.
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Mu Q, Hu T, Tian X, Li T, Kuang X. The Effect of Filler Dimensionality and Content on Resistive Viscoelasticity of Conductive Polymer Composites for Soft Strain Sensors. Polymers (Basel) 2023; 15:3379. [PMID: 37631438 PMCID: PMC10458475 DOI: 10.3390/polym15163379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/09/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Soft strain sensors based on conductive polymer composites (CPCs) provide a simple and feasible detection tool in wearable electronics, soft machines, electronic skin, etc. However, the CPCs-based soft strain sensors exhibit resistive viscoelasticity (or time-dependent properties) that hinder the intuitive reflection of the accurate strain and a simple calibration process. In this paper, CPCs with different carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon black (CB) contents were prepared, and electro-mechanical experiments were conducted to study the effect of filler dimensionality and content on the resistive viscoelasticity of CPCs, aimed at guiding the fabrication of CPCs with low resistive viscoelasticity. Furthermore, resistive viscoelasticity and mechanical viscoelasticity were compared to study the origin of the resistive viscoelasticity of CPCs. We found that, at the vicinity of their percolation threshold, the CPCs exhibit high resistive viscoelasticity despite their high sensitivity. In addition, the secondary peaks for CB/SR composite were negligible when the CB concentration was low. Generally, compared with one-dimensional CNT-filled CPCs, the zero-dimensional CB-filled CPCs show higher sensitivity, lower resistive hysteresis, lower resistance relaxation ratio, and better cyclic performance, so they are more suitable for sensor usage. By comparing the resistive viscoelasticity and mechanical viscoelasticity of CPCs, it is indicated that, when the concentration of nanoparticles (NPs) approaches the percolation thresholds, the resistive viscoelasticity is mainly derived from the change of conductive network, while when the concentration of NPs is higher, it is primarily due to the unrecoverable deformations inside the material.
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Affiliation(s)
- Quanyi Mu
- School of Physics, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China; (T.H.); (X.T.); (T.L.)
- Ningxia Key Laboratory of Intelligent Sensing for Desert Information, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
| | - Ting Hu
- School of Physics, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China; (T.H.); (X.T.); (T.L.)
| | - Xinya Tian
- School of Physics, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China; (T.H.); (X.T.); (T.L.)
| | - Tongchuan Li
- School of Physics, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China; (T.H.); (X.T.); (T.L.)
| | - Xiao Kuang
- Division of Engineering in Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
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Stier SP, Böse H. Electroplating and Ablative Laser Structuring of Elastomer Composites for Stretchable Multi-Layer and Multi-Material Electronic and Sensor Systems. MICROMACHINES 2021; 12:mi12030255. [PMID: 33802335 PMCID: PMC7999256 DOI: 10.3390/mi12030255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2021] [Revised: 02/25/2021] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
In this work we present the concept of electroplated conductive elastomers and ablative multi-layer and multi-material laser-assisted manufacturing to enable a largely automated, computer-aided manufacturing process of stretchable electronics and sensors. Therefore, the layers (conductive and non-conductive elastomers as well as metal layers for contacting) are first coated over the entire surface (doctor blade coating and electroplating) and then selectively removed with a CO2 or a fiber laser. These steps are repeated several times to achieve a multi-layer-structured design. Is it not only possible to adjust and improve the work previously carried out manually, but also completely new concepts such as fine through-plating between the layers to enable much more compact structures become possible. In addition, metallized areas allow the direct soldering of electronic components and thus a direct connection between conventional and stretchable electronics. As an exemplary application, we have used the process for manufacturing a thin and surface solderable pressure sensor with a silicone foam dielectric and a stretchable circuit board.
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