Fully solution processed liquid metal features as highly conductive and ultrastretchable conductors

• Published in: Npj flexible electronics Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Zhu, Hangyu, Wang, Shaolei, Zhang, Menghu, Li, Tingyu, Hu, Gaohua, Kong, Desheng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 23.09.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/301/1005; 639/638/298/923; Casting; Chemistry and Materials Science; Conductors; Elastomers; Electrical resistivity; Electronics and Microelectronics; Formability; Instrumentation; Light emitting diodes; Liquid metals; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Polymer Sciences; Prostheses; Robotics; Sensors; Stretchability; Substrates; Tensile strain; Wearable technology
• ISSN: 2397-4621; 2397-4621
• DOI: 10.1038/s41528-021-00123-x

Liquid metal represents a highly conductive and inherently deformable conductor for the development of stretchable electronics. The widespread implementations of liquid metal towards functional sensors and circuits are currently hindered by the lack of a facile and scalable patterning approach. In this study, we report a fully solution-based process to generate patterned features of the liquid metal conductor. The entire process is carried out under ambient conditions and is generally compatible with various elastomeric substrates. The as-prepared liquid metal feature exhibits high resolution (100 μm), excellent electrical conductivity (4.15 × 10 4 S cm −1 ), ultrahigh stretchability (1000% tensile strain), and mechanical durability. The practical suitability is demonstrated by the heterogeneous integration of light-emitting diode (LED) chips with liquid metal interconnects for a stretchable and wearable LED array. The solution-based technique reported here is the enabler for the facile patterning of liquid metal features at low cost, which may find a broad range of applications in emerging fields of epidermal sensors, wearable heaters, advanced prosthetics, and soft robotics.