Elastic conductors could lead to stretchable electronic devices

Stretchable circuitry could be formed into an electronic ‘skin’ that could help robots to pick up delicate objects without breaking them and stretchable displays and antennas that could make mobile phones and other electronic devices stretch and compress without affecting their performance.

However, the first step towards making such applications possible is to produce conductors that are elastic and able to effectively and reliably transmit electric signals regardless of whether they are deformed.

Dr Yong Zhu, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State, and Feng Xu, a PhD student in Zhu’s lab, have developed such elastic conductors using silver nanowires.

According to the university, the new technique embeds highly conductive silver nanowires in a polymer that can withstand significant stretching without adversely affecting the material’s conductivity.

‘This development is very exciting because it could be immediately applied to a broad range of applications,’ Zhu said. ‘In addition, our work focuses on high and stable conductivity under a large degree of deformation, complementary to most other work using silver nanowires that is more concerned with flexibility and transparency.’