Tough soldering for stretchable electronics by small-molecule modulated interfacial assemblies.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38001116.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-023-43574-8 and PMC identifier 10673831.
- 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
The rapid-developing soft robots and wearable devices require flexible conductive materials to maintain electric functions over a large range of deformations. Considerable efforts are made to develop stretchable conductive materials; little attention is paid to the frequent failures of integrated circuits caused by the interface mismatch of soft substrates and rigid silicon-based microelectronics. Here, we present a stretchable solder with good weldability that can strongly bond with electronic components, benefiting from the hierarchical assemblies of liquid metal particles, small-molecule modulators, and non-covalently crosslinked polymer matrix. Our self-solder shows high conductivity (>2×10<sup>5 </sup> S m<sup>-1</sup>), extreme stretchability (~1000%, and >600% with chip-integrated), and high toughness (~20 MJ m<sup>-3</sup>). Additionally, the dynamic interactions within our solder's surface and interior enable a range of unique features, including ease of integration, component substitution, and circuit recyclability. With all these features, we demonstrated an application as thermoforming technology for three-dimensional (3D) conformable electronics, showing potential in reducing the complexity of microchip interfacing, as well as scalable fabrication of chip-integrated stretchable circuits and 3D electronics.