Fatigue-free artificial ionic skin toughened by self-healable elastic nanomesh

Jiqiang Wang, Baohu Wu, Peng Wei, Shengtong Sun () and Peiyi Wu ()
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Jiqiang Wang: Donghua University
Baohu Wu: Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS) at Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ) Forschungszentrum Jülich
Peng Wei: Donghua University
Shengtong Sun: Donghua University
Peiyi Wu: Donghua University

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract Robust ionic sensing materials that are both fatigue-resistant and self-healable like human skin are essential for soft electronics and robotics with extended service life. However, most existing self-healable artificial ionic skins produced on the basis of network reconfiguration suffer from a low fatigue threshold due to the easy fracture of low-energy amorphous polymer chains with susceptible crack propagation. Here we engineer a fatigue-free yet fully healable hybrid ionic skin toughened by a high-energy, self-healable elastic nanomesh, resembling the repairable nanofibrous interwoven structure of human skin. Such a design affords a superhigh fatigue threshold of 2950 J m−2 while maintaining skin-like compliance, stretchability, and strain-adaptive stiffening response. Moreover, nanofiber tension-induced moisture breathing of ionic matrix leads to a record-high strain-sensing gauge factor of 66.8, far exceeding previous intrinsically stretchable ionic conductors. This concept creates opportunities for designing durable ion-conducting materials that replicate the unparalleled combinatory properties of natural skins more precisely.

Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-32140-3

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