Extremely stretchable and conductive water-repellent coatings for low-cost ultra-flexible electronics

Joseph E. Mates, Ilker S. Bayer, John M. Palumbo, Patrick J. Carroll and Constantine M. Megaridis ()
Additional contact information
Joseph E. Mates: Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
Ilker S. Bayer: Smart Materials, Nanophysics, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
John M. Palumbo: Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
Patrick J. Carroll: Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago
Constantine M. Megaridis: Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Illinois at Chicago

Nature Communications, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Rapid advances in modern electronics place ever-accelerating demands on innovation towards more robust and versatile functional components. In the flexible electronics domain, novel material solutions often involve creative uses of common materials to reduce cost, while maintaining uncompromised performance. Here we combine a commercially available paraffin wax–polyolefin thermoplastic blend (elastomer matrix binder) with bulk-produced carbon nanofibres (charge percolation network for electron transport, and for imparting nanoscale roughness) to fabricate adherent thin-film composite electrodes. The simple wet-based process produces composite films capable of sustained ultra-high strain (500%) with resilient electrical performance (resistances of the order of 101–102 Ω sq−1). The composites are also designed to be superhydrophobic for long-term corrosion protection, even maintaining extreme liquid repellency at severe strain. Comprised of inexpensive common materials applied in a single step, the present scalable approach eliminates manufacturing obstacles for commercially viable wearable electronics, flexible power storage devices and corrosion-resistant circuits.

Date: 2015
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms9874 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:6:y:2015:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms9874

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9874

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().