title: Fatigue-free, superstretchable, transparent, and biocompatible metal electrodes.
abstract: Next-generation flexible electronics require highly stretchable and transparent electrodes. Few electronic conductors are both transparent and stretchable, and even fewer can be cyclically stretched to a large strain without causing fatigue. Fatigue, which is often an issue of strained materials causing failure at low strain levels of cyclic loading, is detrimental to materials under repeated loads in practical applications. Here we show that optimizing topology and/or tuning adhesion of metal nanomeshes can significantly improve stretchability and eliminate strain fatigue. The ligaments in an Au nanomesh on a slippery substrate can locally shift to relax stress upon stretching and return to the original configuration when stress is removed. The Au nanomesh keeps a low sheet resistance and high transparency, comparable to those of strain-free indium tin oxide films, when the nanomesh is stretched to a strain of 300%, or shows no fatigue after 50,000 stretches to a strain up to 150%. Moreover, the Au nanomesh is biocompatible and penetrable to biomacromolecules in fluid. The superstretchable transparent conductors are highly desirable for stretchable photoelectronics, electronic skins, and implantable electronics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204;
authors.forename: Chuan Fei
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
authors.forename: Qihan
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Imaging, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030; Department of Internal Medicine, The Affiliated Tumor Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, Henan 450003, People's Republic of China;
authors.forename: Guohui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
authors.forename: Yecheng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Translational Imaging, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX 77030;
authors.forename: Zhengzheng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kavli Institute for Bionano Science and Technology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138;
authors.forename: Zhigang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Suo
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 cwchu@uh.edu zren@uh.edu.
authors.forename: Ching-Wu
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Texas Center for Superconductivity, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204; cwchu@uh.edu zren@uh.edu.
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004566:Electrodes; D004581:Electronics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian / Q000166:cytology; D004867:Equipment Design; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000502:physiology; D006046:Gold / Q000737:chemistry; D008670:Metals / Q000737:chemistry*; D051379:Mice; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D018583:Pliability; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D008670:Metals; D006046:Gold
keywords: adhesion; biocompatibility; fatigue-free; stretchability; topology