Ag nanowire-based nanocomposites for interconnects of flexible/wearable electronics

With the recent increasing interest in wearable/stretchable electronics, there are concentrated efforts to develop a material system for flexible/stretchable interconnects that can endure severe mechanical deformations. The most widely used strategy to fabricate stretchable interconnects is to form polymer composites by embedding conductive fillers such as metal particles or metal nanowires into the elastomeric polymer matrix. The conductive fillers can form a percolated network in the polymer matrix, which enables the polymer composites to serve as conductors. Because of the elastomeric properties of the polymer matrix, the composites could withstand mechanical strain while maintaining the conductive properties until the percolation in the network of the conductive fillers is lost below the critical percolation threshold above which conduction can start. The volumetric deformation of the polymer matrix under severe mechanical strain causes disconnection of the percolated network, which results in the degradation of conductivity. Since the loss of percolation is highly dependent on the mechanical properties of the polymer matrix, the development of a stretchable polymer matrix that is high compatible with the conductive fillers is urgently needed. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract