Bioinspired Nanocomposites with Self‐Adaptive Stress Dispersion for Super‐Foldable Electrodes

Abstract

Abstract In flexible electronics, appropriate inlaid structures for stress dispersion to avoid excessive deformation that can break chemical bonds are lacking, which greatly hinders the fabrication of super‐foldable composite materials capable of sustaining numerous times of true‐folding. Here, mimicking the microstructures of both cuit cocoon possessing super‐flexible property and Mimosa leaf featuring reversible scatheless folding, super‐foldable C‐web/FeOOH‐nanocone (SFCFe) conductive nanocomposites are prepared, which display cone‐arrays on fiber structures similar to Mimosa leaf, as well as non‐crosslinked junctions, slidable nanofibers, separable layers, and compressible network like cuit cocoon. Remarkably, the SFCFe can undergo over 100 000 times of repeated true‐folding without structural damage or electrical conductivity degradation. The mechanism underlying this super‐foldable performance is further investigated by real‐time scanning electron microscopy folding characterization and finite‐element simulations. The results indicate its self‐adaptive stress‐dispersion mechanism originating from multilevel biomimetic structures. Notably, the SFCFe demonstrates its prospect as a super‐foldable anode electrode for aqueous batteries, which shows not only high capacities and satisfactory cycling stability, but also completely coincident cyclic voltammetry and galvanostatic charge–discharge curves throughout the 100 000 times of true‐folding. This work reports a mechanical design considering the self‐adaptive stress dispersion mechanism, which can realize a scatheless super‐foldable electrode for soft‐matter electronics.

Keywords

• biomimetic
• C/FeOOH
• free‐standing electrodes
• self‐adaptive stress dispersion
• super‐foldable electronics