A reversibly cross-linkable and transparent polymer featuring stretchability and thermal healability is prepared by introducing Diels-Alder (DA)-reactive moieties into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), namely, a healable PDMS (h-PDMS). Inspired by the fact that retro-DA reactions occur even at low temperatures (albeit at a low rate), we maximize the effectiveness of small reactant products, demonstrating that self-healing and self-integration realized by 1-3 min exposure of cured h-PDMS to methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) vapor is more efficient than that achieved by direct sample heating at high temperatures. This technology is first used to uniformly transfer Ag nanowires (Ag NWs) formed on a temporary substrate to the h-PDMS surface, and further MEK vapor treatment allows the transferred NWs to be impregnated below the h-PDMS surface to afford an in-plane strain sensor. Most importantly, the developed method is used to perfectly integrate two identical Ag NW/h-PDMS films and thus place NWs on a neutral plane. Consequently, because of the unique structure in which a percolated network of AgNWs is formed on the interface where the two identical h-PDMS films are chemically integrated, the fabricated sensor is transparent, self-healable, stretchable, and insensitive to bending but sensitively responds to in-plane strain induced by lateral deformation.
Keywords: Diels−Alder; bending-insensitive; in-plane strain sensor; self-healing; silicone elastomer.