As promising candidates for intelligent biomimetic applications similar to living organisms, smart soft materials have aroused extensive interest due to their extraordinarily designable structures and functionality. Herein, a bubble-like elastomer-based electronic skin that can be pneumatically actuated is achieved through hydrophilic/hydrophobic interphase mediated asymmetric functionalization. The asymmetric and controllable introduction of elastic polydimethylsiloxane into the carbon nanotube film at the air/water interface can endow the Janus ultrathin film with tunable conductivity, self-adhesivity, self-adaptivity, and even self-sealing properties. As a result, the Janus films can be employed as multifunctional electronics, including self-adhesive strain sensing/thermal managing devices and even noncontact mechanical sensors as artificial eardrums for tiny air-pressure detection. Significantly, these excellent features can further enable the integration of actuating and sensing functions. As a proof of concept, the Janus film can serve as a self-supported device to simultaneously imitate the controllable contracting/expanding behaviors of the vocal sac of frog and monitor the real-time current change in this process, demonstrating significant potential in smart bionic applications.
Keywords: bubble-like stretchable film; hydrophilic/hydrophobic; multifunctional electronics; pneumatic; self-adhesive/self-adaptive.