Materials and manufacturing strategies for mechanically transformative electronics

Abstract

The static mechanical properties of conventional rigid and emerging soft electronics offer robust handling and interfacing mechanisms and highly compliant and adapting structures, respectively, but limit their functionalities and versatility. Mechanically transformative electronics systems (TESs) have extensive potential applications beyond these existing electronics technology owing to their ability to achieve both rigid and soft features as a result of bidirectional reconfiguration of their mechanical structure under the influence of stimuli (e.g. heat, electric/magnetic field, light, stress). In this article, we review recent advances in materials and fabrication methods as well as their applications for the development of TESs. We present key requirements for TESs and cover a range of stimuli-responsive materials and design strategies. Potential applications with demonstrated utility in wearables, implantable devices, sensors, and robotics, alongside key challenges and opportunities in the development of this emerging technology, are also discussed.

Keywords

• Mechanical mode conversion
• Stimuli-responsive materials
• Phase change
• Stiffness tuning
• Reconfigurable electronics