Cephalopods-inspired Repairable MWCNTs/PDMS Conductive Elastomers for Sensitive Strain Sensor

Flexible electronic devices based on reversible bonds for self-curing capabilities arouses extensive interest. However, most of the composite conductive elastomers have the problems of poor mechanical properties and slow recovery of mechanical properties during multiple stretching, which hinder their stability in continuous operation. In this study, hyperbranched-MWCNTs/hyperbranched-PDMS self-healable conductive elastomers inspired by cephalopods were successfully developed. The prepared conductive elastomer exhibited good self-healing ability (91%) at room temperature excited by multiple reversible interactions. The prepared elastomer showed outstanding mechanical properties and anti-fatigue ability, so that it can cope with more arduous tasks. Moreover, the elastomer was sensitive to the change of stress states and can be used as a stable strain sensor. Therefore, the self-repairing conductive elastomer has potential practicability in the fields of human-computer interaction, motion monitoring, soft robot and so on.

Automated summary

This study successfully developed self-healing conductive elastomers inspired by cephalopods, which possess excellent self-healing ability and mechanical properties, making them suitable for applications in human-computer interaction, motion monitoring, soft robot, etc.