Crystal-confined freestanding ionic liquids for reconfigurable and repairable electronics.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 30710100.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-08433-5 and PMC identifier 6358609.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Liquid sensors composed of ionic liquids are rising as alternatives to solid semiconductors for flexible and self-healing electronics. However, the fluidic nature may give rise to leakage problems in cases of accidental damages. Here, we proposed a liquid sensor based on a binary ionic liquid system, in which a flowing ionic liquid [OMIm]PF<sub>6</sub> is confined by another azobenzene-containing ionic liquid crystalline [OMIm]AzoO. Those crystal components provide sufficient pinning capillary force to immobilize fluidic components, leading to a freestanding liquid-like product without the possibility of leakage. In addition to owning ultra-high temperature sensitivity, crystal-confined ionic liquids also combine the performances of both liquid and solid so that it can be stretched, bent, self-healed, and remolded. With respect to the reconfigurable property, this particular class of ionic liquids is exploited as dynamic circuits which can be spatially reorganized or automatically repaired.