Stretchable, Transparent, Ionic Conductors

By Christoph Keplinger, Jeong-Yun Sun, Choon Chiang Foo, Philipp Rothemund, George M. Whitesides, Zhigang Suo. Science, 2013

1,577 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Hydrogel Stretch A range of stretchable, conductive materials can be made either by making an electrical conductor more stretchable or by adding an electrical conductor to a stretchable material. Keplinger et al. (p. 984; see the Perspective by Rogers) have added to the possibilities of an alternative stretchable ionic conductor based on a hydrogel material used to make deformable devices that are fully transparent to light over the visible spectrum and that can withstand high voltages and high frequencies. Stretchable ionic gels are fabricated into transparent actuators and loudspeakers. [Also see Perspective by Rogers] Existing stretchable, transparent conductors are mostly electronic conductors. They limit the performance of interconnects, sensors, and actuators as components of stretchable electronics and soft machines. We describe a class of devices enabled by ionic conductors that are highly stretchable, fully transparent to light of all colors, and capable of operation at frequencies beyond 10 kilohertz and voltages above 10 kilovolts. We demonstrate a transparent actuator that can generate large strains and a transparent loudspeaker that produces sound over the entire audible range. The electromechanical transduction is achieved without electrochemical reaction. The ionic conductors have higher resistivity than many electronic conductors; however, when large stretchability and high transmittance are required, the ionic conductors have lower sheet resistance than all existing electronic conductors.

Subfields: Biomedical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/492e26a4c730c1a2ce6537b63edaaa6140967464

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Biomedical Engineering

1. Xuanhe Zhao
2. Zhigang Suo
3. Zhong Lin Wang
4. Shengqiang Cai
5. Hyunwoo Yuk
6. Zishun Liu
7. T. Y. Ng
8. W. Toh

In Mechanical Engineering

1. Zhigang Suo
2. T. Y. Ng
3. W. Toh
4. Zishun Liu
5. Xuanhe Zhao
6. Shengqiang Cai
7. Hyunwoo Yuk
8. Xiangyu Chen

Citations in the corpus

• Fast-moving soft electronic fish (2017, background): “Whereas the encapsulated hydrogel serves as an ionically conductive electrode (50), an important aspect of the design is to use the surrounding tap water as the other electrode.”