A Highly Stretchable Polyacrylonitrile Elastomer with Nanoreservoirs of Lubricant Using Cyano-Silver Complexes.

Abstract

Stretchable materials are indispensable for applications such as deformable devices, wearable electronics, and future robotics. However, designs for new elastomers with high stretchability have undergone only limited research. Here we have fabricated highly stretchable Ag⁺/polyacrylonitrile elastomer with nanoreservoirs of lubricant using cyano-silver complexes. The prepared products feature nanoconfinement structures of lubricant surrounded by polymer chains with coordination bond through chelates of cyano-silver, resulting in an enhanced stretchability of more than 600% from 2%. The elastomeric properties were investigated, and a mechanical response model was proposed, which explained the structural evolution including the polymer chain fluidity under external deformation. Also, the easy breakage and dynamic reformation of cyano-silver coordination complexes promises a strain recovery under various stretching conditions. This elastomer itself can directly work as sensors and open paths to alternative substrates for soft electronics development.