Title
Printable elastic conductors by in situ formation of silver nanoparticles from silver flakes
Author
Matsuhisa, N.
Inoue, D.
Zalar, P.
Jin, H.
Matsuba, Y.
Itoh, A.
Yokota, T.
Hashizume, D.
Someya, T.
Publication year
2017
Abstract
Printable elastic conductors promise large-area stretchable sensor/actuator networks for healthcare, wearables and robotics. Elastomers with metal nanoparticles are one of the best approaches to achieve high performance, but large-area utilization is limited by difficulties in their processability. Here we report a printable elastic conductor containing Ag nanoparticles that are formed in situ, solely by mixing micrometre-sized Ag flakes, fluorine rubbers, and surfactant. Our printable elastic composites exhibit conductivity higher than 4,000 S cm-1 (highest value: 6,168 S cm-1) at 0% strain, and 935 S cm-1 when stretched up to 400%. Ag nanoparticle formation is influenced by the surfactant, heating processes, and elastomer molecular weight, resulting in a drastic improvement of conductivity. Fully printed sensor networks for stretchable robots are demonstrated, sensing pressure and temperature accurately, even when stretched over 250%.
Subject
2015 Nano Technology
HOL - Holst
TS - Technical Sciences
Electronics
Industrial Innovation
Elastomers
Metal nanoparticles
Sensor networks
Surface active agents
Area utilization
Elastic composites
Fluorine rubber
Heating process
In-situ formations
Pressure
Temperature
Silver nanoparticles
To reference this document use:
http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:bb00df79-8a55-436c-8230-add84b6b7f90
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4904
TNO identifier
777397
ISSN
1476-1122
Source
Nature Materials, 16 (8), 834-840
Document type
article