A pre-strain strategy for developing a highly stretchable and foldable one-dimensional conductive cord based on a Ag nanowire networkElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details, explanation on the adverse effect of over-pre-strain, and additional optical microscopy images. See DOI: 10.1039/c7nr02116j

• Main Authors: Kim, Areum, Ahn, Jihoon, Hwang, Hyewon, Lee, Eunsong, Moon, Jooho
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2040-3364; 2040-3372
• DOI: 10.1039/c7nr02116j

A highly stretchable and foldable conductive cord was developed by depositing silver nanowires (AgNWs) on a polyurethane cord. The application of pre-strain to the cord during the deposition of AgNWs resulted in the formation of a wrinkled AgNW layer, thereby inducing structural stability towards stretching and bending. This conductive cord exhibited stable electric conduction under strain values of up to 167% and at a bending radius of 0.3 mm. Also, it could withstand a stretching test of 500 cycles at a strain of 50%. A pre-strain strategy was applied to 1-D conductive cords, significantly enhancing the stretchability and bendability of 1-D conductive cords with stable retention of conductivity.