Highly stretchable large area woven, knitted and robust braided textile based interconnection for stretchable electronics

Abstract

With the rapid development of stretchable and wearable technologies, stretchable interconnection technology also demanded along it. Stretchable interconnections should have high stretchability and stable conductivity for use as an electrode. In addition, to develop to commercialization scale from research scale, a simple fabrication process that can be scaled up, and the stretchable interconnection should be able to be electrically connected to devices or modules directly. To date, printable conductor inks, liquid metals and stretchable structured interconnections have been reported for stretchable interconnections. These approaches have demonstrated high stretchability and conductivity, but in aspect of scale, it is appropriate to apply in micro-scale devices. For requirements of stretchability, conductivity and direct integration into meso- or centimeter-scale electronic devices or modules, here we introduce stretchable interconnections with a textile structure composed of metal fibers. The stretchable woven and knitted textiles show 67% strain and stable conductivity, and the cylindrical textile shows more than 700% strain with high strength. The stretchable textiles were fabricated using a weaving, knitting and braiding machine that can be used to produce textiles without any limit to length or area. These textiles exhibit high and stable conductivity even under deformation, and can be directly integrated into devices or modules by soldering. These high-performance stretchable textiles have great potential for commercial applications.