Biphasic Liquid Metal Composites for Sinter‐Free Printed Stretchable Electronics

Soft dielectric materials typically exhibit poor heat transfer properties due to the dynamics of phonon transport, which constrain thermal conductivity (k) to decrease monotonically with decreasing elastic modulus (E). This thermal−mechanical trade-off is limiting for wearable computing, soft robotics, and other emerging applications that require materials with both high thermal conductivity and low mechanical stiffness. Here, we overcome this constraint with an electrically insulating composite that exhibits an unprecedented combination of metal-like thermal conductivity, an elastic compliance similar to soft biological tissue (Young’s modulus < 100 kPa), and the capability to undergo extreme deformations (>600% strain). By incorporating liquid metal (LM) microdroplets into a soft elastomer, we achieve a ∼25× increase in thermal conductivity (4.7 ± 0.2 W⋅m−1⋅K−1) over the base polymer (0.20 ± 0.01 W⋅m−1·K−1) under stress-free conditions and a ∼50× increase (9.8 ± 0.8 W⋅m−1·K−1) when strained. This exceptional combination of thermal and mechanical properties is enabled by a unique thermal−mechanical coupling that exploits the deformability of the LM inclusions to create thermally conductive pathways in situ. Moreover, these materials offer possibilities for passive heat exchange in stretchable electronics and bioinspired robotics, which we demonstrate through the rapid heat dissipation of an elastomer-mounted extreme high-power LED lamp and a swimming soft robot.

Download Full-text

Universal synthesis of conductive liquid network in polymers enabling elastic printed circuit board technology

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1130783/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jiheong Kang ◽

Wonbeom Lee ◽

Hyunjun Kim ◽

Inho Kang ◽

Hongjun Park ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Liquid Metal ◽

Acoustic Field ◽

Printed Circuit Board ◽

Circuit Board ◽

System Level ◽

Large Strains ◽

Stretchable Electronics ◽

Electronic Components ◽

Conductive Liquid ◽

Printed Circuit

Abstract Stretchable electronics are considered next-generation electronic devices in a broad range of emerging fields, including soft robotics1,2, biomedical devices3,4, human-machine interfaces5,6, and virtual or augmented reality devices7,8. A stretchable printed circuit board (S-PCB) is a basic conductive framework for the facile assembly of system-level stretchable electronics with various electronic components. Since an S-PCB is responsible for electrical communications between numerous electronic components, the conductive lines in S-PCB should strictly satisfy the following features: (i) metallic conductivity, (ii) constant electrical resistance during dynamic stretching, and (iii) tough interface bonding with various components9. Despite recent significant advances in intrinsically stretchable conductors10,11,12, they cannot simultaneously satisfy the above stringent requirements. Here, we present a new concept of conductive liquid network-based elastic conductors. These conductors are based on unprecedented liquid metal particles assembled network (LMPNet) and an elastomer. The unique assembled network structure and reconfigurable nature of the LMPNet conductor enabled high conductivity, high stretchability, tough adhesion, and imperceptible resistance changes under large strains, which enabled the first elastic-PCB (E-PCB) technology. We synthesized LMPNet through an acoustic field-driven cavitation event in the solid state. When an acoustic field is applied, liquid metal nanoparticles (LMPnano) are remarkably generated from original LMPs and assemble into a highly conductive particle network (LMPNet). Finally, we demonstrated a multi-layered E-PCB, in which various electronic components were integrated with tough adhesion to form a highly stretchable health monitoring system. Since our synthesis of LMPNet is universal, we could synthesize LMPNet in various polymers, including hydrogel, self-healing elastomer and photoresist and add new functions to LMPNet.

Download Full-text