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A kirigami approach to engineering elasticity in nanocomposites through patterned defects

Abstract

Efforts to impart elasticity and multifunctionality in nanocomposites focus mainly on integrating polymeric1,2 and nanoscale3,4,5 components. Yet owing to the stochastic emergence and distribution of strain-concentrating defects and to the stiffening of nanoscale components at high strains, such composites often possess unpredictable strain–property relationships. Here, by taking inspiration from kirigami—the Japanese art of paper cutting—we show that a network of notches6,7,8 made in rigid nanocomposite and other composite sheets by top-down patterning techniques prevents unpredictable local failure and increases the ultimate strain of the sheets from 4 to 370%. We also show that the sheets’ tensile behaviour can be accurately predicted through finite-element modelling. Moreover, in marked contrast to other stretchable conductors3,4,5, the electrical conductance of the stretchable kirigami sheets is maintained over the entire strain regime, and we demonstrate their use to tune plasma-discharge phenomena. The unique properties of kirigami nanocomposites as plasma electrodes open up a wide range of novel technological solutions for stretchable electronics and optoelectronic devices, among other application possibilities.

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Figure 1: Microscale kirigami patterns.
Figure 2: Stress–strain curves for model macroscale kirigami sheet (green), non-patterned sheet (grey curve), and a sheet with a single notch in the middle (dashed blue).
Figure 3: Experimental and FEM-calculated stress–strain curves for macroscale kirigami sheets with variable unit-cell parameters.
Figure 4: Stress-concentration visualization in FEM.
Figure 5: Conducting kirigami nanocomposites.

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Acknowledgements

This project was sponsored by NSF Grant #1240264 EFRI-ODISSEI, a joint grant to all senior authors of this work. Parts of the research were also supported by the National Science Foundation, Division of Materials Research Award # DMR 1120923, and by a Simons Investigator award from the Simons Foundation to S.C.G. The authors gratefully acknowledge fruitful discussions with J. R. Barber on the analytical solution of the buckling kirigami systems. T.C.S. thanks S. R. Spurgeon for stimulating discussions, and R. Hower and H. Zhang for assistance in microfabrication. We thank H. Eberhart for his custom glass apparatus and vacuum system. This work was conducted in part in E. M. Arruda’s laboratory, the Electron Microbeam Analysis Laboratory, and the Lurie Nanofabrication Facility at the University of Michigan.

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Contributions

T.C.S. carried out the experimental set-up, fabrication and measurements. P.F.D. and P.M.D. performed the finite-element modelling. A.L. performed the beam analysis, laser cutting, and the mechanical cycling experiments on Kapton structures. L.X. carried out the LBL assembly. M.Shlian contributed to fabrication and iteration of designs. M.Shtein, S.C.G., and N.A.K. supervised the work. T.C.S., P.F.D. and N.A.K. originated the study, prepared the manuscript, and all authors contributed to data interpretation, discussions and writing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Max Shtein, Sharon C. Glotzer or Nicholas A. Kotov.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Shyu, T., Damasceno, P., Dodd, P. et al. A kirigami approach to engineering elasticity in nanocomposites through patterned defects. Nature Mater 14, 785–789 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4327

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