Functional Epoxy Elastomer Integrating Self-Healing Capability and Degradability for a Flexible Stretchable Strain Sensor

Abstract

With the rapid development of flexible electronics and the increasing deterioration of the natural environment, functional and environmentally friendly flexible strain sensors have become one of the frontier research hotspots. Here, we propose a novel strategy to synthesize a functional epoxy elastomer integrating self-healing capability and degradability for flexible stretchable strain sensors. A carboxyl-terminated epoxy prepolymer was first synthesized using carboxyl-terminated PEG (PEG-COOH), 2,2′-dithiodibenzoic acid (DTSA), and 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE), and then crosslinked by epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) to yield an epoxy elastomer. The obtained elastomer exhibited not only high tensile stress (5.07 MPa), large stretchability (477%), and high healing efficiency (92.5%) but also superior degradability in alkaline aqueous solution. The elastomer-based stretchable strain sensor with microstructure showed high sensitivity (GF = 176.71) and was successfully applied for detecting human motions and recognizing objects with various shapes. Moreover, the healed sensor could restore stable sensing ability. The prepared functional epoxy elastomer is of great significance for the preparation of environmentally friendly and high-performance sensors and is promising for applications in the fields of healthcare monitoring, intelligent robots, and wearable electronics.

Effectof epoxy functionalized elastomer modified carbon fiber on mechanical properties and interfacial adhesion of chloroprene rubber (CR)/natural rubber (NR) composites

“…Similarly, after treatment with EVMG, OCO (289.2 eV) appeared. This is because part of KH550 on the fiber surface dissolves, and the epoxy group on EVMG reacts with the carboxyl group on the fiber surface, β‐hydroxy ester groups were generated in the surface 35 . The oxygen‐containing bond on the surface of carbon fiber is increased, because the epoxy group can also undergo ring‐opening reaction with the amino group on KH550, and EVMG is grafted to the fiber surface, resulting in the increase of oxygen‐containing bond 25 …”

Dynamic disulfide bonds facilitated fabrication of a multifunctional liquid-free elastomer for recyclable soft electronics

“…S7, ESI †), which is much faster than that of other ICEs. 45,46 PTAIM would be remolded following the synthetic procedure mentioned above. To our delight, the mechanical and conductivity performances remained without being obviously affected after several rounds of remoulding processes (Fig.…”

Ti3C2Tx MXene Paper-Based Wearable and Degradable Pressure Sensor for Human Motion Detection and Encrypted Information Transmission

“…The study of flexible pressure sensors is crucial for the development of wearable devices. − For most of the existing flexible pressure sensors, their high performance usually relies on complex structures and expensive fabrication processes, which poses challenges for large-scale production. Moreover, their components often use difficult-to-degrade materials, which generates unnecessary electronic waste and causes environmental pollution problems. − Paper, as a biodegradable material, has unique characteristics such as excellent flexibility, low cost, printability, and environmental friendliness. − It has already shown great application potential in green wearable electronics …”