Bioinspired Self‐healing Soft Electronics

Abstract

Inspired by nature, various self-healing materials that can recover their physical properties after external damage have been developed. Recently, selfhealing materials have been widely used in electronic devices for improving durability and protecting the devices from failure during operation. Moreover, self-healing materials can integrate many other intriguing properties of biological systems, such as stretchability, mechanical toughness, adhesion, and structural coloration, providing additional fascinating experiences. All of these inspirations have attracted extensive research on bioinspired self-healing soft electronics. This review presents a detailed discussion on bioinspired self-healing soft electronics. Firstly, two main healing mechanisms are introduced. Then, four categories of self-healing materials in soft electronics, including insulators, semiconductors, electronic conductors, and ionic conductors, are reviewed, and their functions, working principles, and applications are summarized. Finally, human-inspired self-healing materials and animal-inspired self-healing materials as well as their applications, such as organic field-effect transistors (OFETs), pressure sensors, strain sensors, chemical sensors, triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs), and soft actuators, are introduced. This cutting-edge and promising field is believed to stimulate more excellent cross-discipline works in material science, flexible electronics, and novel sensors, accelerating the development of applications in human motion monitoring, environmental sensing, information transmission, etc.

High-Strength Magnetic Hydrogels with Photoweldability Made by Stepwise Assembly of Magnetic-Nanoparticle-Integrated Aramid Nanofiber Composites

“…For example, a flower-shaped hydrogel is formed by ANF-Fe 3 O 4 -PVA petals and an ANF-PVA core, potentially serving as a reversible robotic hand for grasping objects (Figure 5f). Compared with other magnetic hydrogels based on self-healing strategies utilizing precursor loading, metal-coordination, hydrogen bonds, 46−48 etc., which are limited by sophisticated chemical processes and insufficient mechanical performance, 46,49 our methods exhibit a high healing efficiency, mechanical strength, and manufacturability that does not require complex chemical modifications. The chemical stability of our hydrogels further limits hazardous waste production during polymer reconfiguration and shape morphing via photothermal effects, mechanical forces, and magnetic fields, ensuring a high degree of safety.…”

Pressure-Activatable Liquid Metal Composites Flexible Sensor with Antifouling and Drag Reduction Functional Surface

“…Mastering nature, the creatures of the natural world have taught us much. , The lotus leaf, with its “untouched by mud” feature; the shark, with its sea-swimming abilities; and the human finger, with its ultrasensitive properties, all have their unique strengths. In this work, a drag reduction and antifouling integrated piezoresistive sensor was prepared using a sandwich structure that combines three elements.…”

Water‐Insensitive Self‐Healing Materials: From Network Structure Design to Advanced Soft Electronics

“…This would enable reliable and robust operation of the device under humid conditions and deformations. [ 102 ] However, it is worth noting that there is currently limited research on semiconductive materials with water‐insensitive self‐healing ability due to synthesis challenges. Therefore, this section primarily focuses on the research progress and potential applications of water‐insensitive self‐healing materials with dielectric, electronically, and ionically conductive functions.…”

“…The fact that most polymers are dielectric materials explains why research on water‐insensitive self‐healing dielectric materials has outpaced their applications in soft electronics. [ 102 ] Consequently, a direct application is to use these materials as an encapsulation layer. For example, Guo's team used silicone rubber as the primary component, combined with multiple‐strength hydrogen bonds and reversible disulfide bonds, to design a highly stretchable (14 000%) and effectively water‐insensitive self‐healing dielectric polymer.…”