Stiffness and Interface Engineered Soft Electronics with Large-Scale Robust Deformability.

Abstract

Skin-like stretchable electronics emerge as promising human-machine interfaces but are challenged by the paradox between superior electronic property and reliable mechanical deformability. Here, a general strategy is reported for establishing robust large-scale deformable electronics by effectively isolating strains and strengthening interfaces. A copolymer substrate is designed to consist of mosaic stiff and elastic areas with nearly four orders of magnitudes modulus contrast and cross-linked interfaces. Electronic functional devices and stretchable liquid metal (LM) interconnects are conformally attached at the stiff and elastic areas, respectively, through hydrogen bonds. As a result, functional devices are completely isolated from strains, and resistances of LM conductors change by less than one time when the substrate is deformed by up to 550%. By this strategy, solar cells, wireless charging antenna, supercapacitors, and light-emitting diodes are integrated into a self-powered electronic skin that can laminate on the human body and exhibit stable performances during repeated multimode deformations, demonstrating an efficient path for realizing highly deformable energy autonomous soft electronics.