Stretchable Conductive Fibers Based on a Cracking Control Strategy for Wearable Electronics

Bo Zhang, Jie Lei, Dianpeng Qi, Zhiyuan Liu, Yu Wang, Gengwu Xiao, Jiansheng Wu, Weina Zhang, Fengwei Huo, Xiaodong Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

133 Scopus citations

Abstract

Stretchability plays an important role in wearable devices. Repeated stretching often causes the conductivity dramatically decreasing due to the damage of the inner conductive layer, which is a fatal and undesirable issue in this field. Herein, a convenient rolling strategy to prepare conductive fibers with high stretchability based on a spiral structure is proposed. With the simple rolling design, low resistance change can be obtained due to confined elongation nof the gold thin-film cracks, which is caused by the encapsulated effect in such a structure. When the fiber is under 50% strain, the resistance change (R/R0) is about 1.5, which is much lower than a thin film at the same strain (R/R0 ≈ 10). The fiber can even afford a high load strain (up to 100%), but still retain good conductivity. Such a design further demonstrates its capability when it is used as a conductor to confirm signal transfer with low attenuation, which can also be woven into textile to fabricate wearable electronics.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1801683
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume28
Issue number29
DOIs
StatePublished - 18 Jul 2018

Keywords

  • composite thin films
  • conductive fibers
  • ultrathin films
  • wearable electronics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Stretchable Conductive Fibers Based on a Cracking Control Strategy for Wearable Electronics'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this