Nano-Micro Letters, Volume. 16, Issue 1, 087(2024)
A Generic Strategy to Create Mechanically Interlocked Nanocomposite/Hydrogel Hybrid Electrodes for Epidermal Electronics
Stretchable electronics are crucial enablers for next-generation wearables intimately integrated into the human body. As the primary compliant conductors used in these devices, metallic nanostructure/elastomer composites often struggle to form conformal contact with the textured skin. Hybrid electrodes have been consequently developed based on conductive nanocomposite and soft hydrogels to establish seamless skin-device interfaces. However, chemical modifications are typically needed for reliable bonding, which can alter their original properties. To overcome this limitation, this study presents a facile fabrication approach for mechanically interlocked nanocomposite/hydrogel hybrid electrodes. In this physical process, soft microfoams are thermally laminated on silver nanowire nanocomposites as a porous interface, which forms an interpenetrating network with the hydrogel. The microfoam-enabled bonding strategy is generally compatible with various polymers. The resulting interlocked hybrids have a 28-fold improved interfacial toughness compared to directly stacked hybrids. These electrodes achieve firm attachment to the skin and low contact impedance using tissue-adhesive hydrogels. They have been successfully integrated into an epidermal sleeve to distinguish hand gestures by sensing muscle contractions. Interlocked nanocomposite/hydrogel hybrids reported here offer a promising platform to combine the benefits of both materials for epidermal devices and systems.
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Qian Wang, Yanyan Li, Yong Lin, Yuping Sun, Chong Bai, Haorun Guo, Ting Fang, Gaohua Hu, Yanqing Lu, Desheng Kong. A Generic Strategy to Create Mechanically Interlocked Nanocomposite/Hydrogel Hybrid Electrodes for Epidermal Electronics[J]. Nano-Micro Letters, 2024, 16(1): 087
Category: Research Articles
Received: Jul. 31, 2023
Accepted: Dec. 2, 2023
Published Online: Jan. 23, 2025
The Author Email: Lu Yanqing (yqlu@nju.edu.cn), Kong Desheng (dskong@nju.edu.cn)