Self‐Healable Elastomeric Network with Dynamic Disulfide, Imine, and Hydrogen Bonds for Flexible Strain Sensor
Wangyi Zeng, Longjiang Deng, Guang Yang
Abstract
Abstract Self‐healable and stretchable elastomeric material is essential for the development of flexible electronics devices to ensure their stable performance. In this study, a strain sensor (PIH 2 T 1 ‐tri/CNT‐3) composed of self‐repairable crosslinked elastomer substrate (PIH 2 T 1 ‐tri, containing multiple reversible repairing sites such as disulfide, imine, and hydrogen bonds) and conductive layer (carbon nanotube, CNT) was prepared. The PIH 2 T 1 ‐tri elastomer had excellent self‐healing ability (healing efficiency=91 %). It exhibited good mechanical integrity in terms of elongation at break (672 %), tensile strength (1.41 MPa). The Young's modulus (0.39 MPa) was close to that of human skin. The PIH 2 T 1 ‐tri/CNT‐3 sensor also demonstrated an effective self‐healing function for electrical conduction and sensing property. Meanwhile, it had high sensitivity (gauge factor (GF)=24.1), short response time (120 ms), and long‐term durability (4000 cycles). This study offers a novel self‐healable elastomer platform with carbon based conductive components to develop flexible strain sensors towards high performance soft electronics.