Manufacturable conducting rubber ambers and stretchable conductors from copper nanowire aerogel monoliths.

Abstract

We report on a low-cost, simple yet efficient strategy to fabricate ultralightweight aerogel monoliths and conducting rubber ambers from copper nanowires (CuNWs). A trace amount of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) substantially improved the mechanical robustness and elasticity of the CuNW aerogel while maintaining a high electrical conductivity. The resistivity was highly responsive to strains manifesting two distinct domains, and both followed a power law function consistent with pressure-controlled percolation theory. However, the values of the exponents were much less than the predicted value for 3D systems, which may be due to highly porous structures. Remarkably, the CuNW-PVA aerogels could be further embedded into PDMS resin, forming conducting rubber ambers. The ambers could be further manufactured simply by cutting into any arbitrary 1D, 2D, and 3D shapes, which were all intrinsically conductive without the need of external prewiring, a condition required in the previous aerogel-based conductors. The outstanding electrical conductivity in conjunction with high mechanical compliance enabled prototypes of the elastic piezoresistivity switches and stretchable conductors.