Highly Stretchable Polymer Composite with Strain‐Enhanced Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Effectiveness

Polymer composites with electrically conductive fillers have been developed as mechanically flexible, easily processable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding materials. Although there are a few elastomeric composites with nanostructured silvers and carbon nanotubes showing moderate stretchability, their EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) deteriorates consistently with stretching. Here, a highly stretchable polymer composite embedded with a three‐dimensional (3D) liquid‐metal (LM) network exhibiting substantial increases of EMI SE when stretched is reported, which matches the EMI SE of metallic plates over an exceptionally broad frequency range of 2.65–40 GHz. The electrical conductivities achieved in the 3D LM composite are among the state‐of‐the‐art in stretchable conductors under large mechanical deformations. With skin‐like elastic compliance and toughness, the material provides a route to meet the demands for emerging soft and human‐friendly electronics.

[1]  J. S. Ho,et al.  Reversible Crumpling of 2D Titanium Carbide (MXene) Nanocoatings for Stretchable Electromagnetic Shielding and Wearable Wireless Communication , 2019, Advanced Functional Materials.

[2]  Q. Wang,et al.  Stretchable liquid metal electromagnetic interference shielding coating materials with superior effectiveness , 2019, Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

[3]  Carl J. Thrasher,et al.  Mechanoresponsive Polymerized Liquid Metal Networks , 2019, Advanced materials.

[4]  Mingjie Li,et al.  Evaporation-induced sintering of liquid metal droplets with biological nanofibrils for flexible conductivity and responsive actuation , 2019, Nature Communications.

[5]  Pengju Liu,et al.  Highly stretchable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding segregated polyurethane/carbon nanotube composites fabricated by microwave selective sintering , 2019, Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

[6]  Takao Someya,et al.  Materials and structural designs of stretchable conductors. , 2019, Chemical Society reviews.

[7]  J. Velasco,et al.  Recent advances in carbon-based polymer nanocomposites for electromagnetic interference shielding , 2019, Progress in Materials Science.

[8]  C. Majidi,et al.  A Liquid‐Metal–Elastomer Nanocomposite for Stretchable Dielectric Materials , 2019, Advanced materials.

[9]  Q. Wang,et al.  A Highly Stretchable Liquid Metal Polymer as Reversible Transitional Insulator and Conductor , 2019, Advanced materials.

[10]  K. Huang,et al.  Ultra-flexible and high-performance electromagnetic wave shielding film based on CNTF/liquid metal composite films , 2019, Journal of Applied Physics.

[11]  S. Fang,et al.  A General Approach for Buckled Bulk Composites by Combined Biaxial Stretch and Layer‐by‐Layer Deposition and Their Electrical and Electromagnetic Applications , 2019, Advanced Electronic Materials.

[12]  Ji Woong Yu,et al.  Highly conductive, stretchable and biocompatible Ag–Au core–sheath nanowire composite for wearable and implantable bioelectronics , 2018, Nature Nanotechnology.

[13]  Chang Kyu Jeong,et al.  Flexible three-dimensional interconnected piezoelectric ceramic foam based composites for highly efficient concurrent mechanical and thermal energy harvesting , 2018 .

[14]  Carmel Majidi,et al.  Extreme Toughening of Soft Materials with Liquid Metal , 2018, Advanced materials.

[15]  Robert J. Wood,et al.  Untethered soft robotics , 2018 .

[16]  Zhong Lin Wang,et al.  Skin-inspired highly stretchable and conformable matrix networks for multifunctional sensing , 2018, Nature Communications.

[17]  S. Ko,et al.  Highly Stretchable and Transparent Electromagnetic Interference Shielding Film Based on Silver Nanowire Percolation Network for Wearable Electronics Applications. , 2017, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[18]  Omid Kavehei,et al.  A liquid metal reaction environment for the room-temperature synthesis of atomically thin metal oxides , 2017, Science.

[19]  Hao‐Bin Zhang,et al.  Hydrophobic, Flexible, and Lightweight MXene Foams for High‐Performance Electromagnetic‐Interference Shielding , 2017, Advanced materials.

[20]  C. Majidi,et al.  Soft Multifunctional Composites and Emulsions with Liquid Metals , 2017, Advanced materials.

[21]  Lai-fei Cheng,et al.  Carbon Nanotube–Multilayered Graphene Edge Plane Core–Shell Hybrid Foams for Ultrahigh‐Performance Electromagnetic‐Interference Shielding , 2017, Advanced materials.

[22]  T. Someya,et al.  Printable elastic conductors by in situ formation of silver nanoparticles from silver flakes. , 2017, Nature materials.

[23]  Jong Won Chung,et al.  A highly stretchable, transparent, and conductive polymer , 2017, Science Advances.

[24]  Deyong Zhu,et al.  Liquid metal sponges for mechanically durable, all-soft, electrical conductors , 2017 .

[25]  Takao Someya,et al.  The rise of plastic bioelectronics , 2016, Nature.

[26]  Yury Gogotsi,et al.  Electromagnetic interference shielding with 2D transition metal carbides (MXenes) , 2016, Science.

[27]  Donghe Du,et al.  Stretchable and conductive polymer films for high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding , 2016 .

[28]  Sam Emaminejad,et al.  Fully integrated wearable sensor arrays for multiplexed in situ perspiration analysis , 2016, Nature.

[29]  Takao Someya,et al.  Printable elastic conductors with a high conductivity for electronic textile applications , 2015, Nature Communications.

[30]  Wen Yang,et al.  On the tear resistance of skin , 2015, Nature Communications.

[31]  Benjamin C. K. Tee,et al.  25th Anniversary Article: The Evolution of Electronic Skin (E‐Skin): A Brief History, Design Considerations, and Recent Progress , 2013, Advanced materials.

[32]  Zhibin Yu,et al.  Elastomeric polymer light-emitting devices and displays , 2013, Nature Photonics.

[33]  N. Kotov,et al.  Stretchable nanoparticle conductors with self-organized conductive pathways , 2013, Nature.

[34]  John A Rogers,et al.  Three-dimensional nanonetworks for giant stretchability in dielectrics and conductors , 2012, Nature Communications.

[35]  Raeed H. Chowdhury,et al.  Epidermal Electronics , 2011, Science.

[36]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Stretchable Microfluidic Radiofrequency Antennas , 2010, Advanced materials.

[37]  Yonggang Huang,et al.  Materials and Mechanics for Stretchable Electronics , 2010, Science.

[38]  T. Someya,et al.  Stretchable active-matrix organic light-emitting diode display using printable elastic conductors. , 2009, Nature materials.

[39]  John A. Rogers,et al.  Omnidirectional Printing of Flexible, Stretchable, and Spanning Silver Microelectrodes , 2009, Science.

[40]  X. Tong.  Advanced Materials and Design for Electromagnetic Interference Shielding , 2008 .

[41]  G. Whitesides,et al.  Eutectic Gallium‐Indium (EGaIn): A Liquid Metal Alloy for the Formation of Stable Structures in Microchannels at Room Temperature , 2008 .

[42]  D. Chung.  Electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of carbon materials , 2001 .

[43]  Vellar C. Plantz,et al.  Shielding theory and practice , 1988 .

[44]  L. E. Cross,et al.  Connectivity and piezoelectric-pyroelectric composites , 1978 .

[45]  Zhuo Kang,et al.  Electromagnetic Shielding Hybrid Nanogenerator for Health Monitoring and Protection , 2018 .