Tough, stretchable dual-network liquid metal-based hydrogel toward high-performance intelligent on-off electromagnetic interference shielding, human motion detection and self-powered application

Abstract

The stretchable conductive materials with adjustable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding performance and other multifunctional integrated applications are remarkably desirable and challenging in flexible electronics. However, the existing stretchable materials often suffer from the decay of EMI shielding performance during the stretching process, which limits their practical applications. Meanwhile, it remains a great challenge to construct materials with ordered porous frameworks as integrated shielding devices. Incorporating porous structure will generate abundant interior surfaces/interfaces, facilitating multiple reflections of incident electromagnetic waves (EMWs). Herein, we employ ultrasound method to modify liquid metal (LM) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), and further utilize an UV in-situ polymerization method to fabricate CNT@LM/polyacrylamide/gelatin (LMCPG) dual network hydrogel elastomer. The LMCPG hydrogel elastomer possesses high strength and durability, and its tensile strength reaches 117 kPa at 1033% strain owing to the high strength of the rigid network and the beneficial deformation ability of the flexible network. Deformable CNT@LM droplets elongate randomly during stretching process, which facilitates establishing more conductive paths. The EMI shielding capacity of the stretched elastomer can be controlled, achieving an intelligent on-off behavior, which exhibits a 211% increase at 200% strain in EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) compared with the undeformed state. Moreover, the LMCPG elastomer shows a significant triboelectric performance, which can provide power supply for flexible electronic devices, achieving an uninterrupted monitoring of the human body motion by devices. Therefore, as a flexible electronic material, it can offer a facile solution to achieve intelligent multifunctional integrated EMI shielding materials.