Wearable and stretchable electronics including various conductors and sensors are featured with their lightweight, high flexibility, and easy integration into functional devices or textiles. However, most flexible electronic materials are still unsatisfactory due to their poor recoverability under large strain. Herein, we fabricated a carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and polyurethane (PU) nanofibers composite helical yarn with electrical conductivity, ultrastretchability, and high stretch sensitivity. The synergy of elastic PU molecules and spring-like microgeometry enable the helical yarn excellent stretchability, while CNTs are stably winding-locked into the yarn through a simple twisting strategy, making good conductivity. By virtue of the interlaced conductive network of CNTs in microlevel and the helical structure in macrolevel, the CNTs/PU helical yarn achieves good recoverability within 900% and maximum tensile elongation up to 1700%. With these features, it can be used as a superelastic and highly stable conductive wire. Moreover, it also can monitor the human motion as a rapid-response strain sensor by adjusting the content of the CNTs simply. This general and low-cost strategy is of great promise for ultrastretchable wearable electronics and multifunctional devices.
Keywords: carbon nanotubes; helical yarn; nanofibers; strain sensor; stretchable electronics.