Electromechanical Characterization of a Highly Stretchable Liquid Metal Derived Conductor for Wearable Electronics

Garakani, Behnam; Somarathna, K. U. S.; Khinda, Gurvinder Singh; Sivasubramony, Rajesh Sharma; Abbara, El Mehdi; Poliks, Mark D.; Srinivas, Sai; Kinzel, Chuck; Olvera-Gonzalez, Andrea; Wallans, Michael; d'Almeida, Daniel; Ronay, Mark

doi:10.1109/ectc32696.2021.00131

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The process parameters are also found to influence the electromechanical behavior of the printed filaments. The electromechanical coupling is measured by monitoring the change in relative resistance ( R / R 0 ) as a function of uniaxial strain (Figure a), following similar procedures to prior work. , The strain limit is set to 1000% during these tensile tests. The relative resistance of all V *s stays below 2.50 for 100% of strain.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhancing Electrical Conductivity of Stretchable Liquid Metal–Silver Composites through Direct Ink Writing

Zu,

Carranza,

Bartlett

2024

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Structure−property−process relationships are a controlling factor in the performance of materials. This offers opportunities in emerging areas, such as stretchable conductors, to control process conditions during printing to enhance performance. Herein, by systematically tuning direct ink write (DIW) process parameters, the electrical conductivity of multiphase liquid metal (LM)-silver stretchable conductors is increased by a maximum of 400% to over 1.06 × 10 6 S•m −1 . This is achieved by modulating the DIW print velocity, which enables the in situ elongation, coalescence, and percolation of these multiphase inclusions during printing. These DIW printed filaments are conductive as fabricated and are soft (modulus as low as 1.1 MPa), stretchable (strain limit >800%), and show strain invariant conductivity up to 80% strain. These capabilities are demonstrated through a set of electromagnetic induction coils that can transfer power wirelessly through air and water, even under deformation. This work provides a methodology to program properties in stretchable conductors, where the combination of material composition and process parameters leads to greatly enhanced performance. This approach can find use in applications such as soft robots, soft electronics, and printed materials for deformable, yet highly functional devices.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%