Ultra-Lightweight and Highly Adaptive All-Carbon Elastic Conductors with Stable Electrical Resistance

The rapid development of wearable electronics needs flexible conductive materials that have stable electrical properties, good mechanical reliability, and broad environmental tolerance. Herein, ultralow-density all-carbon conductors that show excellent elasticity and high electrical stability when subjected to bending, stretching, and compression at high strains, which are superior to previously reported elastic conductors, are demonstrated. These all-carbon conductors are fabricated from carbon nanotube forms, with their nanotube joints being selectively welded by amorphous carbon. The joint-welded foams have a robust 3D nanotube network with fixed nodes and mobile nanotube segments, and thus have excellent electrical and mechanical stabilities. They can readily scale up, presenting a new type of nonmetal elastic conductor for many possible applications.