Autonomous alignment and healing in multilayer soft electronics using immiscible dynamic polymers

Self-healing soft electronic and robotic devices can, like human skin, recover autonomously from damage. While current devices use a single type of dynamic polymer for all functional layers to ensure strong interlayer adhesion, this approach requires manual layer alignment. In this study, we used tw...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2023-06, Vol.380 (6648), p.935-941
Main Authors: Cooper, Christopher B, Root, Samuel E, Michalek, Lukas, Wu, Shuai, Lai, Jian-Cheng, Khatib, Muhammad, Oyakhire, Solomon T, Zhao, Renee, Qin, Jian, Bao, Zhenan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Hydrogen bonding
INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Multilayers
Phase separation
Polymer films
Polymer matrix composites
Polymers
Realignment
Self-assembly
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Summary:Self-healing soft electronic and robotic devices can, like human skin, recover autonomously from damage. While current devices use a single type of dynamic polymer for all functional layers to ensure strong interlayer adhesion, this approach requires manual layer alignment. In this study, we used two dynamic polymers, which have immiscible backbones but identical dynamic bonds, to maintain interlayer adhesion while enabling autonomous realignment during healing. These dynamic polymers exhibit a weakly interpenetrating and adhesive interface, whose width is tunable. When multilayered polymer films are misaligned after damage, these structures autonomously realign during healing to minimize interfacial free energy. We fabricated devices with conductive, dielectric, and magnetic particles that functionally heal after damage, enabling thin-film pressure sensors, magnetically assembled soft robots, and underwater circuit assembly.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.adh0619