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An integrated self-healable electronic skin system fabricated via dynamic reconstruction of a nanostructured conducting network

Nature Nanotechnology volume 13, pages 1057–1065 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Electronic skin devices capable of monitoring physiological signals and displaying feedback information through closed-loop communication between the user and electronics are being considered for next-generation wearables and the ‘Internet of Things’. Such devices need to be ultrathin to achieve seamless and conformal contact with the human body, to accommodate strains from repeated movement and to be comfortable to wear. Recently, self-healing chemistry has driven important advances in deformable and reconfigurable electronics, particularly with self-healable electrodes as the key enabler. Unlike polymer substrates with self-healable dynamic nature, the disrupted conducting network is unable to recover its stretchability after damage. Here, we report the observation of self-reconstruction of conducting nanostructures when in contact with a dynamically crosslinked polymer network. This, combined with the self-bonding property of self-healing polymer, allowed subsequent heterogeneous multi-component device integration of interconnects, sensors and light-emitting devices into a single multi-functional system. This first autonomous self-healable and stretchable multi-component electronic skin paves the way for future robust electronics.

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Fig. 1: Schematic drawings of dynamic reconstruction of conductive nano-network in the tough and stretchable self-healing polymer matrix.
Fig. 2: Dynamic reconstruction of one-dimensional conductive nano-network.
Fig. 3: Interconnection and sensors with autonomous self-healability.
Fig. 4: Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin with autonomous self-healability.
Fig. 5: Schematic drawings and corresponding images of an integrated self-healable electronic skin system.
Fig. 6: Demonstration of integrated self-healable electronic skin system.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Samsung Electronics. This work was partially performed at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF), supported by the National Science Foundation under award ECCS-1542152. O.V. was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation ‘Mobility Fellowship’ P2ELP2_165147.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Donghee Son, Jiheong Kang, Orestis Vardoulis.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Donghee Son, Jiheong Kang, Orestis Vardoulis, Naoji Matsuhisa, Jin Young Oh, John WF To, Jaewan Mun, Toru Katsumata, Francisco Molina-Lopez, Yeongjun Lee, Jeffrey B.-H. Tok & Zhenan Bao

  2. Biomedical Research Institute, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea

    Donghee Son

  3. Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Yeongin Kim, Marta Krason & Ulrike Kraft

  4. Department of Chemical Engineering, Kyung Hee University, Yongin, South Korea

    Jin Young Oh

  5. Corporate Research and Development, Performance Materials Technology Center, Asahi Kasei Corporation, Shizuoka, Japan

    Toru Katsumata

  6. Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Yuxin Liu

  7. Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Allister F. McGuire

  8. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Jooyeun Ham

  9. Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea

    Youngjun Yun

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  1. Donghee Son
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Contributions

D.S., J.K., O.V. and Z.B. designed the experiments. D.S., J.K., O.V., N.M., Y.K., J.Y.O., J.W.T., J.M., T.K., Y.L., A.F.M., M.K., F.M.L., J.H., U.K., Y.L., Y.Y., J.B.-H.T. and Z.B. performed experiments and carried out analysis. D.S., J.K., O.V., J.B.-H.T. and Z.B. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhenan Bao.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figures 1–27, Supplementary References

Supplementary Video 1

Stretchable self-healing interconnection for commercial LEDs and passive modules

Supplementary Video 2

ECG sensor with autonomous self-healability (1)

Supplementary Video 3

ECG sensor with autonomous self-healability (2)

Supplementary Video 4

Integrated electroluminescent skin with ECG sensor (1)

Supplementary Video 5

Integrated electroluminescent skin with ECG sensor (2)

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Son, D., Kang, J., Vardoulis, O. et al. An integrated self-healable electronic skin system fabricated via dynamic reconstruction of a nanostructured conducting network. Nature Nanotech 13, 1057–1065 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-018-0244-6

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