Autonomous alignment and healing in multilayer soft electronics using immiscible dynamic polymers
Abstract
Self-healing soft electronic and robotic devices can, like human skin, recover autonomously from damage. While current devices use a single type of dynamic polymer for all functional layers to ensure strong interlayer adhesion, this approach requires manual layer alignment. In this study, we used two dynamic polymers, which have immiscible backbones but identical dynamic bonds, to maintain interlayer adhesion while enabling autonomous realignment during healing. These dynamic polymers exhibit a weakly interpenetrating and adhesive interface, whose width is tunable. When multilayered polymer films are misaligned after damage, these structures autonomously realign during healing to minimize interfacial free energy. We fabricated devices with conductive, dielectric, and magnetic particles that functionally heal after damage, enabling thin-film pressure sensors, magnetically assembled soft robots, and underwater circuit assembly.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jun 02, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1126/science.adh0619
Entities
People
- Christopher Cooper
- Jian Qin
- Jian-Cheng Lai
- Lukas Michalek
- Muhammad Khatib
- Ruike Zhao
- Samuel E. Root
- Shuai Wu
- Solomon T. Oyakhire
- Zhenan Bao
Organizations
- Stanford University