The
demand for new forms of flexible electronic devices has led
to the evolution of individual components comprising optical adhesive
films that provide excellent optical transparency and high bonding
strength while offering remarkable elasticity with high strain and
recovery properties. Herein, a new type of highly elastic and transparent
adhesive film is proposed using tailored rigid-flexible dual-stiffness
nanoparticles (DSNs) composed of a rigid inorganic core and an elastic
reactive coil shell. The hierarchically structured nanoparticles were
prepared from SiO2 nanoparticles via the sequential surface
modification with photoreactive flexible chains. The fabricated elastic
adhesive film containing DSNs with an average diameter of 20 nm showed
a high optical transmittance of 92% and adhesion strength of 19.9
N/25 mm. Increasing the content of the tailored nanoparticles in the
adhesive film improved the elastic properties of the film such as
elastic modulus (7.0 kPa), stress relaxation ratio (18.4%), and strain
recovery rate (73.6%) due to the efficient elastic motion of the embedded
DSNs. In addition, as the surface grafting density of elastic coil
groups in the nanoparticle increased, a stronger bonding network was
formed between the nanoparticles and the acrylic polymer matrix, thereby
further improving the stress relaxation ratio (18.0%) and strain recovery
rate (77.1%) of the optical film. Thus, the utilization of novel dual-stiffness
nanoparticles produces optical adhesive films with high elasticity
and optical transparency that are capable of withstanding external
forces such as folding and stretching, which is essential for flexible
electronic devices.
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