Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

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

Nature Nanotechnology volume 13, pages1057–1065(2018)Cite this article

Subjects

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.

Access options

Rent or Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

from$8.99

Rent or Buy

All prices are NET prices.

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.

References

  1. 1.

    Kim, D.-H. et al. Epidermal electronics. Science 333, 838–843 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. 2.

    Son, D. et al. Multifunctional wearable devices for diagnosis and therapy of movement disorders. Nat. Nanotech. 9, 397–404 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. 3.

    Kaltenbrunner, M. et al. An ultra-lightweight design for imperceptible plastic electronics. Nature 499, 458–463 (2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. 4.

    Gao, W. et al. Fully integrated wearable sensor arrays for multiplexed in situ perspiration analysis. Nature 529, 509–514 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. 5.

    Yu, B. et al. An elastic second skin. Nat. Mater. 15, 911–918 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. 6.

    Chortos, A., Liu, J. & Bao, Z. Pursuing prosthetic electronic skin. Nat. Mater. 15, 937–950 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. 7.

    Kim, D.-H. et al. Materials for multifunctional balloon catheters with capabilities in cardiac electrophysiological mapping and ablation therapy. Nat. Mater. 10, 316–323 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. 8.

    Oh, J. Y. et al. Intrinsically stretchable and healable semiconducting polymer for organic transistors. Nature 539, 411–415 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. 9.

    Ma, R. et al. Highly efficient electrocaloric cooling with electrostatic actuation. Science 357, 1130–1134 (2017).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. 10.

    Liang, J., Li, L., Niu, X., Yu, Z. & Pei, Q. Elastomeric polymer light-emitting devices and displays. Nat. Photon. 7, 817–824 (2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. 11.

    Matsuhisa, N. et al. Printable elastic conductors by in situ formation of silver nanoparticles from silver flakes. Nat. Mater. 16, 834–840 (2017).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  12. 12.

    Park, M. et al. Highly stretchable electric circuits from a composite material of silver nanoparticles and elastomeric fibres. Nat. Nanotech. 7, 803–809 (2012).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  13. 13.

    Sun, J.-Y. et al. Highly stretchable and tough hydrogels. Nature 489, 133–136 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. 14.

    Yuk, H., Zhang, T., Parada, G. A., Liu, X. & Zhao, X. Skin-inspired hydrogel–elastomer hybrids with robust interfaces and functional microstructures. Nat. Commun. 7, 12028 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. 15.

    Savagatrup, S. et al. Plasticization of PEDOT:PSS by common additives for mechanically robust organic solar cells and wearable sensors. Adv. Funct. Mater. 25, 427–436 (2015).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  16. 16.

    Zhao, H., O’brien, K., Li, S. & Shepherd, R. F. Optoelectronically innervated soft prosthetic hand via stretchable optical waveguides. Sci. Robot. 1, eaai7529 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. 17.

    Xu, J. et al. Highly stretchable polymer semiconductor films through the nanoconfinement effect. Science 355, 59–64 (2017).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  18. 18.

    Yang, Y. & Urban, M. W. Self-healing polymeric materials. Chem. Soc. Rev. 42, 7446–7467 (2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  19. 19.

    Holten-Andersen, N. et al. pH-induced metal-ligand cross-links inspired by mussel yield self-healing polymer networks with near-covalent elastic moduli. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 2651–2655 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  20. 20.

    Yuan, L. et al. Poly(phenylene oxide) modified cyanate resin for self-healing. Polym. Adv. Technol. 25, 752–759 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  21. 21.

    Li, C.-H. et al. A highly stretchable autonomous self-healing elastomer. Nature Chem. 8, 618–624 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  22. 22.

    Huang, Y. et al. A self-healable and highly stretchable supercapacitor based on a dual crosslinked polyelectrolyte. Nat. Commun. 6, 10310 (2015).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  23. 23.

    Gong, C. et al. A healable, semitransparent silver nanowire–polymer composite conductor. Adv. Mater. 25, 4186–4191 (2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  24. 24.

    Li, J. et al. Healable capacitive touch screen sensors based on transparent composite electrodes comprising silver nanowires and a furan/maleimide Diels–Alder cycloaddition polymer. ACS Nano 8, 12874–12882 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  25. 25.

    Wang, H. et al. A mechanically and electrically self-healing supercapacitor. Adv. Mater. 26, 3638–3643 (2014).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  26. 26.

    Bandodkar, A. J. et al. All-printed magnetically self-healing electrochemical devices. Sci. Adv. 2, e1601465 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. 27.

    Huynh, T.-P. & Haick, H. Self-healing, fully functional, and multiparametric flexible sensing platform. Adv. Mater. 28, 138–143 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  28. 28.

    Cordier, P., Tournilhac, F., Soulie-Ziakovic, C. & Leibler, L. Self-healing and thermoreversible rubber from supramolecular assembly. Nature 451, 977–980 (2008).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  29. 29.

    Zou, Z. et al. Rehealable, fully recyclable, and malleable electronic skin enabled by dynamic covalent thermoset nanocomposite. Sci. Adv. 4, eaaq0508 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. 30.

    Palleau, E. et al. Self-healing stretchable wires for reconfigurable circuit wiring and 3D microfluidics. Adv. Mater. 25, 1589–1592 (2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  31. 31.

    Kang, J. et al. Tough and water-insensitive self-healing elastomer for robust electronic skin. Adv. Mater. 30, 1706846 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. 32.

    De Greef, T. F. A. et al. Supramolecular polymerization. Chem. Rev. 109, 5687–5754 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. 33.

    Kim, S. M. et al. Role of anions in the AuCl3-doping of carbon nanotubes. ACS Nano 5, 1236–1242 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  34. 34.

    Lipomi, D. J. et al. Skin-like pressure and strain sensors based on transparent elastic films of carbon nanotubes. Nat. Nanotech. 6, 788–792 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  35. 35.

    Wallace, W. E. et al. Polymer chain relaxation: surface outpaces bulk. Macromolecules 34, 5081–5082 (2001).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  36. 36.

    Larson, C. et al. Highly stretchable electroluminescent skin for optical signaling and tactile sensing. Science 351, 1071–1074 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  37. 37.

    Yang, C. H. et al. Electroluminescence of giant stretchability. Adv. Mater. 28, 4480–4484 (2016).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

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.

Author information

Author notes

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

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

Authors
  1. Donghee Son
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jiheong Kang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Orestis Vardoulis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Yeongin Kim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Naoji Matsuhisa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Jin Young Oh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. John WF To
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Jaewan Mun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Toru Katsumata
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Yuxin Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  11. Allister F. McGuire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  12. Marta Krason
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  13. Francisco Molina-Lopez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  14. Jooyeun Ham
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  15. Ulrike Kraft
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  16. Yeongjun Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  17. Youngjun Yun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  18. Jeffrey B.-H. Tok
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  19. Zhenan Bao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

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.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note: Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

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

Download citation

Further reading

Search

Quick links

Find nanotechnology articles, nanomaterial data and patents all in one place. Visit Nano by Nature Research