Stretchable Electronics Based on PDMS Substrates

Abstract

Stretchable electronics, which can retain their functions under stretching, have attracted great interest in recent decades. Elastic substrates, which bear the applied strain and regulate the strain distribution in circuits, are indispensable components in stretchable electronics. Moreover, the self‐healing property of the substrate is a premise to endow stretchable electronics with the same characteristics, so the device may recover from failure resulting from large and frequent deformations. Therefore, the properties of the elastic substrate are crucial to the overall performance of stretchable devices. Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) is widely used as the substrate material for stretchable electronics, not only because of its advantages, which include stable chemical properties, good thermal stability, transparency, and biological compatibility, but also because of its capability of attaining designer functionalities via surface modification and bulk property tailoring. Herein, the strategies for fabricating stretchable electronics on PDMS substrates are summarized, and the influence of the physical and chemical properties of PDMS, including surface chemical status, physical modulus, geometric structures, and self‐healing properties, on the performance of stretchable electronics is discussed. Finally, the challenges and future opportunities of stretchable electronics based on PDMS substrates are considered.

Gecko-Inspired Biomimetic Surfaces with Annular Wedge Structures Fabricated by Ultraprecision Machining and Replica Molding

“…PDMS is widely used as a gecko-inspired fiber array material due to its advantages of easy curing, low Young’s modulus, low surface energy, low cost, and chemical stability. 49 For this research, SYLGARD 184 was purchased from Dow Silicones Corporation and was used as the sample base. The replica molding process can be roughly divided into three subprocesses.…”

Stretchable Energy Storage Devices: From Materials and Structural Design to Device Assembly

“…Poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) with excellent chemical stability has been employed as stretchable substrate and encapsulation layer for a long time. [17,90] With engineering pre-stain by stretching PDMS separator before assembly with electrodes, the as-fabricated SESDs can deliver stretchability to some extent. Suffering from the relatively rigid network constructed by curing the silicone-elastomer base, the PDMS separator only exhibits a low strain value of 30% (Figure 7a).…”

Dumbbell‐Shaped, Graft and Bottlebrush Polymers with All‐Siloxane Nature: Synthetic Methodology, Thermal, and Rheological Behavior

“…Silicon-containing derivatives, including (poly)silanes [33,34] and especially poly(organosiloxanes) (siloxanes), are of high interest and offer special prospects among well-defined organometallic and inorganic macrostructures (and materials based on them). [35][36][37][38][39] This is due, on the one hand, to the abundance and availability of "Si" in the Earth's crust (27.6-29.5 mass%), and on the other hand, to the unique set of physicochemical properties of siloxane materials, PDMS and PDES in particular, such as high thermal resistance, low glass transition temperature, radiation resistance, gas permeability, biocompatibility, etc. [35][36][37][38][39] However, the synthesis of complex macromolecules with an all-siloxane nature (i.e., with SiOSi groups both in the main chain (or core) and in the side chain (pendant), in particular with grafted, [40] dumbbell-shaped, [41] star-shaped structure, [41][42][43] etc., is still a non-trivial challenge.…”

“…[35][36][37][38][39] This is due, on the one hand, to the abundance and availability of "Si" in the Earth's crust (27.6-29.5 mass%), and on the other hand, to the unique set of physicochemical properties of siloxane materials, PDMS and PDES in particular, such as high thermal resistance, low glass transition temperature, radiation resistance, gas permeability, biocompatibility, etc. [35][36][37][38][39] However, the synthesis of complex macromolecules with an all-siloxane nature (i.e., with SiOSi groups both in the main chain (or core) and in the side chain (pendant), in particular with grafted, [40] dumbbell-shaped, [41] star-shaped structure, [41][42][43] etc., is still a non-trivial challenge. [44,45] As a rule, combined (mixed) systems are obtained, that is, those consisting of a siloxane (SiOSi moieties) main chain (or core) and carbosilane (Si(C) n Si moieties, n = 2,3) side chains, and vice versa, or systems with both siloxane main chain (or core) and side A methodology for synthesizing a wide range of dumbbell-shaped, graft and bottlebrush polymers with all-siloxane nature (without carbosilane linkers) is suggested.…”