Self-Healing, Adhesive, and Highly Stretchable Ionogel as a Strain Sensor for Extremely Large Deformation

Li Mei Zhang; Yuan He; Sibo Cheng; Hao Sheng; Keren Dai; Wen Jiang Zheng; Mei Xiang Wang; Zhen Shan Chen; Yong Mei Chen; Zhigang Suo

doi:10.1002/smll.201804651

Self-Healing, Adhesive, and Highly Stretchable Ionogel as a Strain Sensor for Extremely Large Deformation

Small. 2019 May;15(21):e1804651. doi: 10.1002/smll.201804651. Epub 2019 Apr 16.

Authors

Li Mei Zhang¹, Yuan He¹, Sibo Cheng¹, Hao Sheng¹, Keren Dai², Wen Jiang Zheng³, Mei Xiang Wang³, Zhen Shan Chen¹, Yong Mei Chen^{1

4}, Zhigang Suo⁵

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, School of Aerospace, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
² ZNDY of Ministerial Key Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210094, China.
³ State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behaviour of Materials of Physics, School of Science, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
⁴ College of Bioresources Chemical and Materials Engineering, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Light Chemistry Engineering Education, Shaanxi University of Science & Technology, Xi'an, 710021, China.
⁵ Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.

PMID: 30990971
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201804651

Abstract

Fabricating a strain sensor that can detect large deformation over a curved object with a high sensitivity is crucial in wearable electronics, human/machine interfaces, and soft robotics. Herein, an ionogel nanocomposite is presented for this purpose. Tuning the composition of the ionogel nanocomposites allows the attainment of the best features, such as excellent self-healing (>95% healing efficiency), strong adhesion (347.3 N m^-1 ), high stretchability (2000%), and more than ten times change in resistance under stretching. Furthermore, the ionogel nanocomposite-based sensor exhibits good reliability and excellent durability after 500 cycles, as well as a large gauge factor of 20 when it is stretched under a strain of 800-1400%. Moreover, the nanocomposite can self-heal under arduous conditions, such as a temperature as low as -20 °C and a temperature as high as 60 °C. All these merits are achieved mainly due to the integration of dynamic metal coordination bonds inside a loosely cross-linked network of ionogel nanocomposite doped with Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles.

Keywords: adhesion; ionogel nanocomposites; self-healing; strain sensors; stretchability.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't