Mechanically resilient integrated electronics realized using interconnected 2D gold-nanosheet elastomeric electrodes

With the growing interest in wearable devices in recent decades, considerable effort has been devoted to developing mechanical elastomeric devices such as sensors, transistors, logic circuits, and integrated circuits. To successfully implement elastomeric devices subjected to large mechanical deformations or stretching, all the components, including conductors, semiconductors, and dielectrics, must have high stability and mechanical sustainability. Elastomeric conductors, which exhibit excellent electrical performances under mechanical deformations, are key components of elastomeric devices. Herein, we prepared fully elastomeric electrodes based on interconnected 2D gold nanosheets (AuNSs) to develop mechanically resilient integrated electronics. The AuNS elastomeric electrodes exhibited a sheet resistance of less than 2 Omega/sq under 50% stretching and sustained 100,000 stretching-releasing cycles. These electrodes with a dedicated design were used in combination with elastomeric semiconductors of P3HT nanofibrils in the PDMS elastomer (P3NF/PDMS) and an ion gel as a dielectric to realize elastomeric transistors, inverters, and NOR and NAND logic gates. Additionally, an elastomeric 8 x 8 transistor array that can sustain various types of mechanical stimuli was successfully demonstrated. Furthermore, the elastomeric electronic devices implemented on a soft robot showed no interfering performances during robot gripping motion. The proposed framework is expected to aid in the rapid development and broaden the application scope of soft electronics.

Automated summary

This paper presents the development of mechanically resilient electronic devices through the use of fully elastomeric electrodes. These electrodes, combined with elastomeric semiconductors and dielectric materials, enable the realization of elastomeric transistors and logic gates. The proposed framework has the potential to contribute to the rapid development and wide application of soft electronics.