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A crack compensation strategy for highly stretchable conductors based on liquid metal inclusions

A crack compensation strategy for highly stretchable conductors based on liquid metal inclusions
A crack compensation strategy for highly stretchable conductors based on liquid metal inclusions

Crack control strategies have been proven very useful for enhancing the stretchability of metal film-based stretchable conductors. However, existing strategies often suffer from the drawbacks of complicated preparation and predefined effective directions. Here, we propose a crack compensation strategy for preparing conductors featured with high stretchability by using liquid metal microparticles (LMMPs)-embedded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the substrate with a thin film of gold (Au) sputtered on the surface. LMMPs can be elongated to connect the cracked Au film upon stretching, which can form a conductive “island-tunnel” (IT) architecture to compensate for the cracks and maintain the conductivity. The high performance of the stretchable conductor is demonstrated by using it as electrodes to record surface electromyography of human brachioradialis and monitor electrocorticography signals of a rat in normal and epileptic states. The developed strategy shows the potential to provide a new perspective for the fabrication of flexible electronics.

electrical materials, materials characterization techniques, Materials property
2589-0042
Li, Guoqiang
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Ma, Xing
e33cecd7-1a4c-4ebf-87d2-d1496a44bdd7
Xu, Zirong
006e102a-b9fe-4bbd-b134-97316026f154
Shen, Yifeng
babf9969-094c-4251-b1a5-ae2c1179d170
Yuan, Man
c147b2ac-ceec-4288-a257-871679f9177c
Huang, Jianping
35939e83-0ecf-48dc-aadc-c15444cd4fb0
Cole, Tim
78cebdf5-e360-4e8e-9dea-ba4b88306980
Wei, Jingjing
fccbedd3-2de5-4ace-8303-4108bb34dc11
Liu, Sanhu
7b015ef1-199f-459d-8089-d778e41f4d85
Han, Fei
692f8619-4360-4d3f-a1bb-445864be49b5
Li, Hanfei
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Bayinqiaoge,
fb90e81b-7a46-4383-8e5f-373ae47c69bd
Xu, Zhiwu
5d353c62-1aad-4927-83bb-b017df6fbcae
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Liu, Zhiyuan
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Li, Guoqiang
fcbbe68a-ee0c-4685-b7c9-7658c522303c
Ma, Xing
e33cecd7-1a4c-4ebf-87d2-d1496a44bdd7
Xu, Zirong
006e102a-b9fe-4bbd-b134-97316026f154
Shen, Yifeng
babf9969-094c-4251-b1a5-ae2c1179d170
Yuan, Man
c147b2ac-ceec-4288-a257-871679f9177c
Huang, Jianping
35939e83-0ecf-48dc-aadc-c15444cd4fb0
Cole, Tim
78cebdf5-e360-4e8e-9dea-ba4b88306980
Wei, Jingjing
fccbedd3-2de5-4ace-8303-4108bb34dc11
Liu, Sanhu
7b015ef1-199f-459d-8089-d778e41f4d85
Han, Fei
692f8619-4360-4d3f-a1bb-445864be49b5
Li, Hanfei
3f93ed24-7502-48d2-9c43-29c487b5f821
Bayinqiaoge,
fb90e81b-7a46-4383-8e5f-373ae47c69bd
Xu, Zhiwu
5d353c62-1aad-4927-83bb-b017df6fbcae
Tang, Shi Yang
1d0f15c6-2a3e-4bad-a3d8-fc267db93ed4
Liu, Zhiyuan
8acfe2f0-e366-4bd3-9a00-ace97d57e473

Li, Guoqiang, Ma, Xing, Xu, Zirong, Shen, Yifeng, Yuan, Man, Huang, Jianping, Cole, Tim, Wei, Jingjing, Liu, Sanhu, Han, Fei, Li, Hanfei, Bayinqiaoge, , Xu, Zhiwu, Tang, Shi Yang and Liu, Zhiyuan (2022) A crack compensation strategy for highly stretchable conductors based on liquid metal inclusions. iScience, 25 (12), [105495]. (doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.105495).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Crack control strategies have been proven very useful for enhancing the stretchability of metal film-based stretchable conductors. However, existing strategies often suffer from the drawbacks of complicated preparation and predefined effective directions. Here, we propose a crack compensation strategy for preparing conductors featured with high stretchability by using liquid metal microparticles (LMMPs)-embedded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as the substrate with a thin film of gold (Au) sputtered on the surface. LMMPs can be elongated to connect the cracked Au film upon stretching, which can form a conductive “island-tunnel” (IT) architecture to compensate for the cracks and maintain the conductivity. The high performance of the stretchable conductor is demonstrated by using it as electrodes to record surface electromyography of human brachioradialis and monitor electrocorticography signals of a rat in normal and epileptic states. The developed strategy shows the potential to provide a new perspective for the fabrication of flexible electronics.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 1 November 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 4 November 2022
Published date: 17 November 2022
Additional Information: Correction notice: A correction has been attached to this output located at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2023.106369 Funding Information: This work was supported by the financial supports from Shenzhen Science and Technology Program ( KQTD20170809110344233 , ZDSYS20190902093209795 ), Shenzhen Bay Laboratory ( SZBL201906281005 ), the NSFC -Shenzhen Robotics Research Center Project ( U2013207 ), the National Natural Science Foundation of China ( 81927804 , 92163109 , U1913601 ), and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. HIT.OCEF.2021032 ).
Keywords: electrical materials, materials characterization techniques, Materials property

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 481764
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/481764
ISSN: 2589-0042
PURE UUID: ff629ddc-41da-44c1-83c6-0013da29207f
ORCID for Shi Yang Tang: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3079-8880

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 07 Sep 2023 16:35
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 04:13

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Contributors

Author: Guoqiang Li
Author: Xing Ma
Author: Zirong Xu
Author: Yifeng Shen
Author: Man Yuan
Author: Jianping Huang
Author: Tim Cole
Author: Jingjing Wei
Author: Sanhu Liu
Author: Fei Han
Author: Hanfei Li
Author: Bayinqiaoge
Author: Zhiwu Xu
Author: Shi Yang Tang ORCID iD
Author: Zhiyuan Liu

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