Autonomous self-healing supramolecular polymer transistors for skin electronics
Ngoc Thanh Phuong Vo, Tae Uk Nam, Min Woo Jeong, Jun Su Kim, Kyu Ho Jung, Yeongjun Lee, Guorong Ma, Xiaodan Gu, Jeffrey B.‐H. Tok, Tae Il Lee, Zhenan Bao, Jin Young Oh
Abstract
Skin-like field-effect transistors are key elements of bio-integrated devices for future user-interactive electronic-skin applications. Despite recent rapid developments in skin-like stretchable transistors, imparting self-healing ability while maintaining necessary electrical performance to these transistors remains a challenge. Herein, we describe a stretchable polymer transistor capable of autonomous self-healing. The active material consists of a blend of an electrically insulating supramolecular polymer with either semiconducting polymers or vapor-deposited metal nanoclusters. A key feature is to employ the same supramolecular self-healing polymer matrix for all active layers, i.e., conductor/semiconductor/dielectric layers, in the skin-like transistor. This provides adhesion and intimate contact between layers, which facilitates effective charge injection and transport under strain after self-healing. Finally, we fabricate skin-like self-healing circuits, including NAND and NOR gates and inverters, both of which are critical components of arithmetic logic units. This work greatly advances practical self-healing skin electronics.