Lubricant-Added Conductive Composite for Direct Writing of a Stretchable Electrode

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2019 Dec 26;11(51):48459-48465. doi: 10.1021/acsami.9b19202. Epub 2019 Dec 17.

Abstract

Stretchable electrodes, which are essential components of next-generation electronic devices, should be highly conductive under multiaxial tensile strain, durable under repetitive stretching, and patternable for integrating stretchable devices. Herein, a lubricant-added stretchable conductive composite of a polydimethylsiloxane-based elastomer containing silver flakes is reported. The added lubricant minimizes changes in conductivity during stretching and maximizes elastic durability by reducing friction. The conductivity varies from 1933.3 S·cm-1 at 0% strain to 307.5 S·cm-1 at 300% uniaxial stretching and 1264.1 S·cm-1 at 50% biaxial stretching. Furthermore, the composite exhibits high durability, even after 1000 cycles of stretching at 200%, and the conductive composite paste can be applied to fine-linewidth direct writing.

Keywords: composite; conductor; direct writing; lubrication; stretchable.