Recently, Jiang Xingyu, a researcher at the National Nanoscience Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has developed a method for manufacturing flexible electronic devices on a large scale in combination with microfluidics and liquid metal. It can be used in various methods such as screen printing, inkjet printing, and microfluidics. High conductivity, high elasticity, and high biocompatibility circuits are obtained on the substrate material. This research is expected to be widely used in the development of new fields such as wearable devices, implantable devices and flexible robots. Related research results are Printable Metal- Polymer Conductors for Highly Stretchable Bio-Devices was published online by the iScience magazine on June 14.
An alloy of liquid metal such as gallium not only has its own fluidity at normal temperature, but also current can flow in it. It is an ideal material for stretchable devices and circuits. However, liquid metal has a large surface energy (difficult to spread) and its surface The insulating oxide film is formed spontaneously, which makes the printing of liquid metal on various substrates always a problem. In order to overcome the surface energy of liquid metal and efficiently break the oxide film on the surface of liquid metal particles, Jiang Xingyu's research group uses liquid metal. Particle printing-polymer casting-polymer stripping method, a highly conductive, highly elastic liquid metal-polymer composite is obtained. On the surface of the composite, the 'island' of liquid metal is distributed in the 'ocean' of the polymer. The 'island' of liquid metal realizes the connection with external devices; inside the composite, it is the liquid metal 'river' extending in all directions, the river guarantees the high conductivity and high elasticity of the composite. The whole preparation process can be At room temperature, high temperature damage to the polymer substrate can be avoided.
The team of Jiang Xingyu printed the composite on a flexible silicone substrate to make a highly flexible circuit that would not fail under extreme strain conditions (>500%). They also printed the composite on latex gloves. As a keyboard glove, the glove can not only monitor the movement of the hand, but also realize the input of characters. The team of Jiang Xingyu further made the composite into an electrotransfected bioelectrode, which achieved efficient transfection of living cell genes. It is expected to greatly increase the flexibility of the circuit, reduce the manufacturing cost of the flexible stretchable circuit, and promote the development and application of new fields such as wearable devices, implantable devices and flexible robots.
The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China.
