Self-healing material shows conductivity boost under strain
An international team of researchers has developed a new self-healing material for wearable devices that exhibits increased conductivity when stretched.
Described in ACS Nano, the material is the work of a collaboration between Stanford University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST). It is based on a previous polymer developed by the team that is highly elastic, can self-heal without the help of external stimuli, and has a mechanical strength similar to that of human skin, making it comfortable to wear for long periods of time. The new material has additional silver nanoparticles embedded within it, enabling it to function as an ‘interconnect’ or conduit that can transmit biosignals from the human body to an electronic device.
During tests, the material was attached to the body to measure biometric signals in real-time. The signals were then transmitted to a robotic arm, which successfully imitated the movements of a human arm in real-time. Furthermore, when stretched, the polymer’s electric conductivity increased, which is unlike similar materials. Under a tensile strain of 3,500 per cent, conductivity rose over 60-fold, according to the researchers.
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