Author ORCID Identifier

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0847-437X : Tricia Carmichael

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-24-2018

Publication Title

Chem

Volume

4

Issue

7

First Page

1673

Keywords

elastomers, stretchable electronics, organic electronics, wearable electronics

Last Page

1684

Abstract

The future of soft, conformable, and robust wearable electronics will require elastomers to provide mechanical stabilization, a soft surface to interact with human wearers, and a crucial physical barrier to protect stretchable devices from the environment. It is a difficult challenge, however, for a single elastomer to fulfill each of these needs. Here, we present a new approach that fuses a membrane of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) onto the surface of a transparent butyl rubber (T-IIR) substrate using an organosilane-based molecular glue. The resulting membrane-interface-elastomer (MINE) structures uniquely combine the surface chemistry of PDMS with the intrinsically low gas permeability of T-IIR for the fabrication of robust stretchable devices. Our most intriguing finding, however, is that the T-IIR-PDMS interface, buried microns below the PDMS surface, exerts a remarkable influence on metal films deposited on the PDMS membrane surface from below, improving stretching and conductance performance by orders of magnitude.

DOI

10.1016/j.chempr.2018.04.019

Funding Reference Number

CRDPJ-445264-12

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