Three‐Dimensional Compressible and Stretchable Conductive Composites

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) conductive composites with remarkable flexibility, compressibility, and stretchability are fabricated by solution deposition of thin metal coatings on chemically modified, macroscopically continuous, 3D polyurethane sponges, followed by infiltration of the metallic sponges with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). These low-cost conductive composites are used as high-performance interconnects for flexible and stretchable light-emitting diode (LED) arrays, even with severe surface abrasion or cutting.

Microfluidic Patterning of Metal Structures for Flexible Conductors by In Situ Polymer‐Assisted Electroless Deposition

“…More recently, several advances in polymer‐assisted ELD16, 17, 18 have been accomplished for the fabrication of highly conductive metal structures for flexible and stretchable interconnects,19, 20, 21, 22 supercapacitors,23, 24 conductive textiles,25, 26 and optoelectronic devices 27, 28. The polymer‐assisted ELD typically involves three major steps: surface modification of functional polymer anchoring layers, loading of catalyst moieties to the polymer anchoring layer by ion exchange, and site‐selective metal electroless deposition.…”

Three-dimensional highly conductive silver nanowires sponges based on cotton-templated porous structures for stretchable conductors

“…[13][14][15] Stretchable conductors containing PU-AgNWs or PU-CuAg sponges as the shape deformation structure have been investigated, showing remarkable electrical and mechanical capability. 8,13,16 3D exible graphene/PDMS composite using Ni foam as template has also been reported. 15 However, surface modications of polymer sponges are always needed to increase the adhesion between conductive nanomaterials and polymer bers, where Ni foam should be etched to obtain the porous conductive network.…”

“…8,9 The shape deformation and elongation of 3D conductive structures can transfer the stress without decay in conductivity under stretching to a certain extent. 3,[10][11][12] In order to construct those 3D architectures, polymer sponges (e.g., polyurethane (PU), poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)) and Ni foam have been used as the skeleton.…”

“…15 However, surface modications of polymer sponges are always needed to increase the adhesion between conductive nanomaterials and polymer bers, where Ni foam should be etched to obtain the porous conductive network. 8,13,15,17,18 Thus the fabrication processes are always complicated. It remains challenging to simply constructing these unique 3D conductive structures into stretchable conductors, which impedes our effort in further exploring their practical ways.…”

Biomimicking Topographic Elastomeric Petals (E‐Petals) for Omnidirectional Stretchable and Printable Electronics

“…The booming of research in ultraflexible, stretchable, and wearable electronics in the past decade has witnessed the remarkable development of advanced materials,1, 2, 3 structures,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and devices10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 that can function under large tensile strains (1%). In particular, the realization of highly conductive and stretchable metal interconnects, contacts, and electrodes are recognized as one critical milestone for these thin film devices 2, 13, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.…”