One reaction to make highly stretchable or extremely soft silicone elastomers from easily available materials

Highly stretchable, soft silicone elastomers are of great interest for the fabrication of stretchable, soft devices. However, there is a lack of available chemistries capable of efficiently preparing silicone elastomers with superior stretchability and softness. Here we show an easy curing reaction to prepare silicone elastomers, in which a platinum-catalyzed reaction of telechelic/multi-hydrosilane (Si-H) functional polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) in the presence of oxygen and water leads to slow crosslinking. This curing chemistry allows versatile tailoring of elastomer properties, which exceed their intrinsic limitations. Specifically, both highly stretchable silicone elastomers (maximum strain of 2800%) and extremely soft silicone elastomers (lowest shear modulus of 1.2 kPa) are prepared by creating highly entangled elastomers and bottle-brush elastomers from commercial precursor polymers, respectively. Several strategies have been explored for overcoming limitations on the ultimate extensibility and softness of silicone elastomers but they either increase process complexity or lead to mechanical instabilities in the resulting elastomers. Here the authors report an easy curing reaction which allows versatile tailoring of elastomer properties exceeding their intrinsic limitations

Automated summary

An easy curing reaction is demonstrated to prepare silicone elastomers with superior stretchability and softness, surpassing their intrinsic limitations. Highly stretchable and extremely soft silicone elastomers are achieved by creating highly entangled elastomers and bottle-brush elastomers from commercial precursor polymers, respectively.