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Nano Research 2024, 17(4): 3369-3378 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6194-9
Research Article | Issue | Published: 08 November 2023

A healable, mechanically robust and ultrastretchable ionic conductive elastomer for durably wearable sensor

Show Author's Information Guoxian Zhang1,  Chunmei Li1( ),  JiaoJun Tan1,2,  Mingqi Wang1,  Yafeng Ren1,  Feijie Ge1( ),  Qiuyu Zhang1( )
Key Laboratory of Special Functional and Smart Polymer Materials of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
College of Bioresources Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Light Chemistry Engineering Education, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an 710021, China
Keywords:
self-healing, ionic conductive elastomers, ionic interactions, centipede-like, poly(urethane-urea) (PUU)
Topics:
Organic polymers
Cite this article:
Zhang G, Li C, Tan J, et al. A healable, mechanically robust and ultrastretchable ionic conductive elastomer for durably wearable sensor. Nano Research, 2024, 17(4): 3369-3378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-6194-9
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

The ionic conductive elastomers show great promise in multifunctional wearable electronics, but they currently suffer from liquid leakage/evaporation or mechanical compliance. Developing ionic conductive elastomers integrating non-volatility, mechanical robustness, superior ionic conductivity, and ultra-stretchability remains urgent and challenging. Here, we developed a healable, robust, and conductive elastomer via impregnating free ionic liquids (ILs) into the ILs-multigrafted poly(urethane-urea) (PUU) elastomer networks. A crucial strategy in the molecular design is that imidazolium cations are largely introduced by double-modification of PUU and centipede-like structures are obtained, which can lock the impregnated ILs through strong ionic interactions. In this system, the PUU matrix contributes outstanding mechanical properties, while the hydrogen bonds and ionic interactions endow the elastomer with self-healing ability, conductivity, as well as non-volatility and transparency. The fabricated ionic conductive elastomers show good conductivity (3.8 × 10−6 S·cm−1), high mechanical properties, including tensile stress (4.64 MPa), elongation (1470%), and excellent healing ability (repairing efficiency of 90% after healing at room temperature for 12 h). Significantly, the conductive elastomers have excellent antifatigue properties, and demonstrate a highly reproducible response after 1000 uninterrupted extension-release cycles. This work provides a promising strategy to prepare ionic conductive elastomers with excellent mechanical properties and stable sensing capacity, and further promote the development of mechanically adaptable intelligent sensors.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

A healable, mechanically robust and ultrastretchable ionic conductive elastomer for durably wearable sensor

Show Author's information Guoxian Zhang1, Chunmei Li1( ), JiaoJun Tan1,2, Mingqi Wang1, Yafeng Ren1, Feijie Ge1( ), Qiuyu Zhang1( )
Key Laboratory of Special Functional and Smart Polymer Materials of Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an 710072, China
College of Bioresources Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Light Chemistry Engineering Education, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi’an 710021, China

Abstract

The ionic conductive elastomers show great promise in multifunctional wearable electronics, but they currently suffer from liquid leakage/evaporation or mechanical compliance. Developing ionic conductive elastomers integrating non-volatility, mechanical robustness, superior ionic conductivity, and ultra-stretchability remains urgent and challenging. Here, we developed a healable, robust, and conductive elastomer via impregnating free ionic liquids (ILs) into the ILs-multigrafted poly(urethane-urea) (PUU) elastomer networks. A crucial strategy in the molecular design is that imidazolium cations are largely introduced by double-modification of PUU and centipede-like structures are obtained, which can lock the impregnated ILs through strong ionic interactions. In this system, the PUU matrix contributes outstanding mechanical properties, while the hydrogen bonds and ionic interactions endow the elastomer with self-healing ability, conductivity, as well as non-volatility and transparency. The fabricated ionic conductive elastomers show good conductivity (3.8 × 10−6 S·cm−1), high mechanical properties, including tensile stress (4.64 MPa), elongation (1470%), and excellent healing ability (repairing efficiency of 90% after healing at room temperature for 12 h). Significantly, the conductive elastomers have excellent antifatigue properties, and demonstrate a highly reproducible response after 1000 uninterrupted extension-release cycles. This work provides a promising strategy to prepare ionic conductive elastomers with excellent mechanical properties and stable sensing capacity, and further promote the development of mechanically adaptable intelligent sensors.

Keywords: self-healing, ionic conductive elastomers, ionic interactions, centipede-like, poly(urethane-urea) (PUU)

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 06 June 2023
Revised: 01 September 2023
Accepted: 12 September 2023
Published: 08 November 2023
Issue date: April 2024

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2023

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22275148, 52203144, and 22375162), the Key R&D Project of Shaanxi Province (Nos. 2023-YBGY-489 and 2023-YBGY-474), the Central Government Guides Local Science and Technology Development Fund Projects (No. 2022ZY2-JCYJ-01-07), the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (No. 2022-JQ136), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 5000210717), and the Foundation (No. 2019KF04) of Guangxi Key Laboratory of Clean Pulp & Papermaking and Pollution Control, College of Light Industry and Food Engineering, Guangxi University for financial support.

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