Dynamically Crosslinked Dry Ion-Conducting Elastomers for Soft Iontronics.

Zhang, Panpan; Guo, Wenbin; Guo, Zi Hao; Ma, Yuan; Gao, Lei; Cong, Zifeng; Zhao, Xue Jiao; Qiao, Lijie et al. · Adv Mater · 2021

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Soft ionic conductors show great promise in multifunctional iontronic devices, but currently utilized gel materials suffer from liquid leakage or evaporation issues. Here, a dry ion-conducting elastomer with dynamic crosslinking structures is reported. The dynamic crosslinking structures endow it with combined advantageous properties simultaneously, including high ionic conductivity (2.04 × 10<sup>-4</sup> S cm<sup>-1</sup> at 25 °C), self-healing capability (96% healing efficiency), stretchability (563%), and transparency (78%). With this ionic conductor as the electrode, two soft iontronic devices (electroluminescent devices and triboelectric nanogenerator tactile sensors) are realized with entirely self-healing and stretchable capabilities. Due to the absence of liquid materials, the dry ion-conducting elastomer shows wide operational temperature range, and the iontronic devices achieve excellent stability. These findings provide a promising strategy to achieve highly conductive and multifunctional soft dry ionic conductors, and demonstrate their great potential in soft iontronics or electronics.