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Flexible and adhesive liquid-free ionic conductive elastomers toward human-machine interaction
Zhenyu Xu1,2, Rui Li1, Huijing Li1,2
1Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Related Technologies, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Marine Materials and Protective Technologies, Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo 315201, China. gaogr@nimte.ac.cn.
Researchers developed flexible, liquid-free ionic conductive elastomers (ICE) for human-machine interaction. These adhesive materials overcome limitations of traditional gels, enabling stable performance and new device applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Polymer Chemistry
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Growing demand for flexible human-machine interaction devices necessitates advanced stretchable ionic conductive materials.
- Existing gel-based ionic conductors face challenges like solvent volatilization, leakage, and poor adhesion due to crosslinked polymer networks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop high-performance, flexible, and adhesive liquid-free ionic conductive elastomers (ICE).
- To overcome the limitations of conventional gel-based ionic materials for enhanced device applications.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a non-crosslinked polymer strategy to synthesize novel ionic conductive elastomers (ICE).
- Characterized ICE for transparency, glass transition temperature (Tg), thermal stability, mechanical properties (tensile fracture strain, modulus), and adhesion.
- Fabricated and tested triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) using ICE as an electrostatic induction layer for interactive keyboards.
Main Results:
- ICE exhibited high transparency (89.5%), low Tg (-51.2 °C), excellent thermal stability (negligible weight loss at 200 °C), and superior mechanical properties (289.5% strain, 45.7 kPa modulus).
- Achieved strong adhesion to various surfaces with interfacial toughness ranging from 11.4 to 41.4 J m⁻².
- Demonstrated stable electrical conductivity under ambient conditions and successful application in TENG-based human-machine interactive keyboards.
Conclusions:
- The non-crosslinked polymer strategy successfully created flexible, adhesive, and liquid-free ionic conductive elastomers.
- These ICE materials offer a promising route for developing stable and high-performance polymer ionic conductors for advanced human-machine interaction devices.
