Reversible conductivity recovery of highly sensitive flexible devices by water vapor

Abstract

Wearable electronics: electrodes healable by water Wearable electronic devices are susceptible to degradation or fatigue fracture, but now the aged electrodes of the devices can be healed by simple water vapor treatment. A group of international researchers led by Prof Lifeng Cui from Dongguan University of Technology, China designs repairable microfiber-based network electrodes with high conductivity, high transparency and ultra-flexibility. The electrodes consist of polycaprolactone microfibers as healing agents and a thin conducting layer coating such as gold. The electrodes can recover the conductivity and mechanical strength after tensile failure or even cutting, which can be attributed to the adhesion and capillary force at the interface of gold and polymer. Upon embedding in PDMS elastomer, the electrodes show excellent durability of up to 1000 cycles and can be used in wearable pressure and strain sensing devices.