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Printable Metal-Polymer Conductors for Highly Stretchable Bio-Devices.

ABSTRACT: Stretchable, biocompatible devices can bridge electronics and biology. However, most stretchable conductors for such devices are toxic, costly, and regularly break/degrade after several large deformations. Here we show printable, highly stretchable, and biocompatible metal-polymer conductors by casting and peeling off polymers from patterned liquid metal particles, forming surface-embedded metal in polymeric hosts. Our printable conductors present good stretchability (2,316 S/cm at a strain of 500%) and repeatability (?R/R <3% after 10,000 cycles), which can satisfy most electrical applications in extreme deformations. This strategy not only overcomes large surface tension of liquid metal but also avoids the undesirable sintering of its particles by stress in deformations, such that stretchable conductors can form on various substrates with high resolution (15 ?m), high throughput (?2,000 samples/hour), and low cost (one-quarter price of silver). We use these conductors for stretchable circuits, motion sensors, wearable glove keyboards, and electroporation of live cells.

SUBMITTER: Tang L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6146547 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Printable Metal-Polymer Conductors for Highly Stretchable Bio-Devices.

Tang Lixue L Cheng Shiyu S Zhang Luyao L Mi Hanbing H Mou Lei L Yang Shuaijian S Huang Zhiwei Z Shi Xinghua X Jiang Xingyu X

iScience 20180614

Stretchable, biocompatible devices can bridge electronics and biology. However, most stretchable conductors for such devices are toxic, costly, and regularly break/degrade after several large deformations. Here we show printable, highly stretchable, and biocompatible metal-polymer conductors by casting and peeling off polymers from patterned liquid metal particles, forming surface-embedded metal in polymeric hosts. Our printable conductors present good stretchability (2,316 S/cm at a strain of 5 ...[more]

PMID: 30240749

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Project description:Embedding liquid metals (LMs) into an elastomer is emerging as a promising strategy for stretchable conductors. Existing manufacturing techniques are struggling between spatial resolution and process complexity and are limited to chemically resistant substrates. Here, we report on a hybrid process combining stencil lithography and centrifugal force-assisted patterning of liquid metal for the development of LM-based stretchable conductors. The selective wetting behavior of oxide-removed eutectic gallium-indium (EGaIn) on metal patterns defined by stencil lithography enables micrometer scale LM patterns on an elastomeric substrate. Stencil lithography allows for defining metal regions without harsh chemical treatments, making it suitable for a wide range of substrates. Microscale LM patterns are achieved by efficiently removing the excess material by the centrifugal forces experienced from spinning the substrate. The proposed approach allows for the creation of LM patterns with a line width as small as 2 μm on a stretchable poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) substrate. The electrical measurement results show that the fabricated EGaIn devices can endure 40% mechanical strain over several thousands of cycles. Furthermore, a stencil design using microbridges is proposed to address the mechanical stability issue in stencil lithography. An EGaIn conductor with a serpentine structure and an interdigitated capacitor are fabricated and characterized. The results demonstrate that the patterned serpentine conductors retain their functionality with applied mechanical strain up to 80%. The performance of the interdigitated capacitors upon applied strain is in good agreement with the theoretical estimation. Finally, we demonstrate our approach also on poly(octamethylene maleate (anhydride) citrate) (POMaC) substrates to broaden the use of the proposed method to not only flexible and stretchable but also biodegradable substrates, opening a way for in vivo transient microsystem engineering. The work presented here provides a versatile and reliable approach for manufacturing stretchable conductors.

Dataset Information

Printable Metal-Polymer Conductors for Highly Stretchable Bio-Devices.

Publications

Printable Metal-Polymer Conductors for Highly Stretchable Bio-Devices.

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