Stephan Schaumüller, Stefan Halama, Peter Prka, Ian Teasdale, Ingrid Graz
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Soft materials play a pivotal role in the efficacy of stretchable electronics and soft robotics, and the interface between the soft devices and rigid counterparts is especially crucial to the overall performance. Herein, we develop polyimide-polydimethylsiloxane (PI-PDMS) copolymers that, in various ratios, combine on a molecular level to give a series of chemically similar materials with an extremely wide Young's modulus range starting from soft 2 MPa and transitioning to rigid polymers with up to 1500 MPa. Of particular significance is the copolymers' capacity to prepare seamless stiffness gradients, as evidenced by strain distribution analyses of gradient materials, due to them being unified on a molecular level. The copolymers and gradient materials were successfully used as substrates for stretchable thin-film conductors and tested as dielectric elastomer actuators, demonstrating their potential application as enabling components in stretchable electronics and soft robots.
期刊介绍:
ACS Materials Au is an open access journal publishing letters articles reviews and perspectives describing high-quality research at the forefront of fundamental and applied research and at the interface between materials and other disciplines such as chemistry engineering and biology. Papers that showcase multidisciplinary and innovative materials research addressing global challenges are especially welcome. Areas of interest include but are not limited to:Design synthesis characterization and evaluation of forefront and emerging materialsUnderstanding structure property performance relationships and their underlying mechanismsDevelopment of materials for energy environmental biomedical electronic and catalytic applications