Ultraelastic and High-Conductivity Multiphase Conductor with Universally Autonomous Self-Healing

Next-generation, truly soft, and stretchable electronic circuits with material level self-healing functionality require high-performance solution-processable organic conductors capable of autonomously self-healing without external intervention. A persistent challenge is to achieve required performance level as electrical, mechanical, and self-healing properties optimized in tandem are difficult to attain. Here heterogenous multiphase conductor with cocontinuous morphology and macroscale phase separation for ultrafast universally autonomous self-healing with full recovery of pristine tensile and electrical properties in less than 120 and 900 s, respectively, is reported. The multiphase conductor is insensitive to flaws under stretching and achieves a synergistic combination of conductivity up to approximate to 1.5 S cm(-1), stress at break approximate to 4 MPa, toughness up to >81 MJ m(-3), and elastic recovery exceeding 2000% strain. Such properties are difficult to achieve simultaneously with any other type of material so far. The solution-processable multiphase conductor offers a paradigm shift for damage tolerant and environmentally resistant soft electronic components and circuits with material level self-healing.

Automated summary

This paper reports a multiphase conductor that can autonomously self-heal in a short period of time, with excellent electrical and mechanical properties. The conductor is insensitive to flaws and can recover its original performance under stretching.