The rapid development of soft electronics has revitalized the research of conducting elastomers. However, the design of conducting elastomers having high stretchability and good transparency still remains a considerable challenge. In this study, we develop a highly transparent, stretchable, and conducting ionoelastomer based on a poly­(ionic liquid) in which cations are fixed to a stretchable elastomeric network and counter anions are mobile. The ionoelastomer solves the dilemma of simultaneous transparency and stretchability in the design of traditional conducting elastomers, possessing good transparency (96%) with an extraordinarily high stretchability, up to a limiting strain of 1460%. Moreover, this novel material is completely nonvolatile and nonhygroscopic, endowing the ionoelastomer with highly stable thermal, environmental, electrochemical, and mechanoelectrical properties. An underwater sensor based on the ionoelastomer is developed with good performance in an aqueous environment. Also, a transparent dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) is demonstrated using the ionoelastomer. It is believed that the ionoelastomer would pave the way to develop exceptional conducting elastomers toward next-generation soft electronics.

Self-healing ionic conductors in all solid state without evaporation or leakage offers great potential for the next-generation soft ionotronics. However, it remains challenging to endow ionic conductors with all solid state while keeping their essential features. In this study, an intrinsically conducting polymer is developed as all-solid-state self-healing ionic conductors based on ion–dipole interactions within a fluorinated poly­(ionic liquid) copolymer. This unique material possesses good self-healing ability at room temperature (96% of healing efficiency in 24 h), large strain (1800%), optical transparency (96%), and ionic conductivity (1.62 × 10–6 S/cm). The self-healing polymer itself is intrinsically conductive without any additives or fillers, thus it is almost free of evaporation or leaking issues of traditional conducting gels. An alternating-current electroluminescent device with self-healing performance is demonstrated. It is anticipated that this strategy would provide new opportunities for the development of novel self-healing ionotronics.

Advanced stretchable and wearable electronic devices have a great potential in the fields of motion detection, health monitoring, and artificial intelligence, substantially increasing the demand for elastic materials. This study...

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Different from the traditional ways for enhancing the dielectric properties of polymers by compositing with rigid electronic conductors, here an alternative strategy is reported via introducing ionically conductive liquid electrolytes as functional fillers. Dielectric constant has significantly improved (up to 600%) by liquid electrolyte inclusions in an elastomer matrix. Moreover, by taking advantage of the inherent transparency of liquid electrolyte fillers, high transparency, good stretchability, and high dielectric constant are achieved simultaneously. Using the composite elastomer, the fabrication of highly sensitive strain sensor is demonstrated with 5–6 times higher sensitivity than the pristine elastomer, and flexible electroluminescent device with greatly lowed driving voltage. The strategy provides new opportunities for novel electroactive polymers, including flexible touchscreen panels and displays, biomimetic soft machines, and smart optics.