Low surface energy materials resist adhesion due to their chemical inertness and non-wetting properties. Herein, we report the creation of a transparent ionogel adhesive that uses ion−dipole interactions to achieve a higher bonding performance to polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) relative to most commercial glues. The ionogel adhesive is composed of a poly(hexafluorobutyl acrylate-co-methyl methacrylate) random copolymer and a hydrophobic ionic liquid. The prepared ionogel can adhere to various hydrophobic substrates, such as PTFE, polypropylene, and polyethylene, as well as hydrophilic glass, ceramics, and steel. The design strategy and adhesion behavior are well interpreted using the density functional theory calculations and molecular dynamics simulations. The straightforward ultravioletcuring method, high optical clarity, versatile adhesion ability, and reversible adhesion capabilities make this high-performance adhesive a promising product for commercialization.
The
rapid development of soft electronics has revitalized the research
of conducting elastomers. However, the design of conducting elastomers
having high stretchability and good transparency still remains a considerable
challenge. In this study, we develop a highly transparent, stretchable,
and conducting ionoelastomer based on a poly(ionic liquid) in which
cations are fixed to a stretchable elastomeric network and counter
anions are mobile. The ionoelastomer solves the dilemma of simultaneous
transparency and stretchability in the design of traditional conducting
elastomers, possessing good transparency (96%) with an extraordinarily
high stretchability, up to a limiting strain of 1460%. Moreover, this
novel material is completely nonvolatile and nonhygroscopic, endowing
the ionoelastomer with highly stable thermal, environmental, electrochemical,
and mechanoelectrical properties. An underwater sensor based on the
ionoelastomer is developed with good performance in an aqueous environment.
Also, a transparent dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) is demonstrated
using the ionoelastomer. It is believed that the ionoelastomer would
pave the way to develop exceptional conducting elastomers toward next-generation
soft electronics.
Self-healing
ionic conductors in all solid state without evaporation
or leakage offers great potential for the next-generation soft ionotronics.
However, it remains challenging to endow ionic conductors with all
solid state while keeping their essential features. In this study,
an intrinsically conducting polymer is developed as all-solid-state
self-healing ionic conductors based on ion–dipole interactions
within a fluorinated poly(ionic liquid) copolymer. This unique material
possesses good self-healing ability at room temperature (96% of healing
efficiency in 24 h), large strain (1800%), optical transparency (96%),
and ionic conductivity (1.62 × 10–6 S/cm).
The self-healing polymer itself is intrinsically conductive without
any additives or fillers, thus it is almost free of evaporation or
leaking issues of traditional conducting gels. An alternating-current
electroluminescent device with self-healing performance is demonstrated.
It is anticipated that this strategy would provide new opportunities
for the development of novel self-healing ionotronics.
Stretchable iontronics with reversible conductor-insulator transitions are attracting great interest due to their promising applications in various fields of flexible electronics. However, effective conductivity switching of the ion conductors is still challenging. Here, a phase-transformable ionogel (PTIG) that shows a reversible conductor-insulator transition with a very sharp change in bulk ionic conductivity (≈10 7 times) at a mild transition temperature of −15 °C is introduced. Moreover, this unique material shows good stretchability (840%), high transparency (97% transmittance in the visible range), and good stability. The ionogel material is used to prepare a long-storage capacitor, which demonstrates good performance. Hence, the new PTIG has the potential for application in the development of flexible iontronics.
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