Air/water interfacial assembled rubbery semiconducting nanofilm for fully rubbery integrated electronics

Sci Adv. 2020 Sep 16;6(38):eabb3656. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abb3656. Print 2020 Sep.

Abstract

A rubber-like stretchable semiconductor with high carrier mobility is the most important yet challenging material for constructing rubbery electronics and circuits with mechanical softness and stretchability at both microscopic (material) and macroscopic (structural) levels for many emerging applications. However, the development of such a rubbery semiconductor is still nascent. Here, we report the scalable manufacturing of high-performance stretchable semiconducting nanofilms and the development of fully rubbery transistors, integrated electronics, and functional devices. The rubbery semiconductor is assembled into a freestanding binary-phased composite nanofilm based on the air/water interfacial assembly method. Fully rubbery transistors and integrated electronics, including logic gates and an active matrix, were developed, and their electrical performances were retained even when stretched by 50%. An elastic smart skin for multiplexed spatiotemporal mapping of physical pressing and a medical robotic hand equipped with rubbery multifunctional electronic skin was developed to show the applications of fully rubbery-integrated functional devices.