Abstract
Wearable electronics used in smart clothing for healthcare monitoring or personalized identification is a new and fast-growing research topic. The challenge is that the electronics has to be simultaneously highly stretchable, mechanically robust and water-washable, which is unreachable for traditional electronics or previously reported stretchable electronics. Herein we report the wearable electronics of sliver nanowire (Ag-NW)/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) nanocomposite which can meet the above multiple requirements. The electronics of Ag-NW/PDMS nanocomposite films is successfully fabricated by an original pre-straining and post-embedding (PSPE) process. The composite film shows a very high conductivity of 1.52 × 104 S cm−1 and an excellent electrical stability with a small resistance fluctuation under a large stretching strain. Meanwhile, it shows a robust adhesion between the Ag-NWs and the PDMS substrate and can be directly machine-washed. These advantages make it a competitive candidate as wearable electronics for smart clothing applications.
Highlights
In order to obtain stretchable electronics with high electrical stability, a great deal of research work has been carried out based on conductive thin films such as conductive polymer composite films[17], metal films with a wavy geometry[18,19] or hybrid films based on carbon nanotubes and graphene[20,21,22,23]
A small resistance fluctuation and an excellent adhesion of Ag-NWs to the PDMS substrate are observed for the pre-straining and post-embedding (PSPE) electronics
Stretchable and washable radio frequency identification (RFID) tags made by the PSPE process are demonstrated for their successful application in smart garments or accessories
Summary
Wearable electronics used in smart clothing for healthcare monitoring or personalized identification is a new and fast-growing research topic. The composite film shows a very high conductivity of 1.52 × 104 S cm−1 and an excellent electrical stability with a small resistance fluctuation under a large stretching strain It shows a robust adhesion between the Ag-NWs and the PDMS substrate and can be directly machine-washed. The electrical stability of the conductors under stretching was relatively low since the embedded Ag-NW networks could be readily damaged upon a high stretching deformation As both the high electrical stability and good mechanical robustness are highly desired for wearable circuits[6,10,11,14,15,16], it is very important to simultaneously achieve these abilities. A small resistance fluctuation and an excellent adhesion of Ag-NWs to the PDMS substrate are observed for the PSPE electronics It can be directly machine-washed together with clothes without degradations in performance. Stretchable and washable radio frequency identification (RFID) tags made by the PSPE process are demonstrated for their successful application in smart garments or accessories
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