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Stretchable and biodegradable self-healing conductors for multifunctional electronics.

Tae-Min JangWon Bae HanSeungkeun HanAnkan DuttaJun Hyeon LimTaekyung KimBong Hee LimGwan-Jin KoJeong-Woong ShinRajaram KavetiHeeseok KangChan-Hwi EomSo Jeong ChoiAmay Jairaj BandodkarKyu-Sung LeeEunkyoung ParkHuanyu ChengWoon-Hong YeoSuk-Won Hwang
Published in: Science advances (2024)
As the regenerative mechanisms of biological organisms, self-healing provides useful functions for soft electronics or associated systems. However, there have been few examples of soft electronics where all components have self-healing properties while also ensuring compatibility between components to achieve multifunctional and resilient bio-integrated electronics. Here, we introduce a stretchable, biodegradable, self-healing conductor constructed by combination of two layers: (i) synthetic self-healing elastomer and (ii) self-healing conductive composite with additives. Abundant dynamic disulfide and hydrogen bonds of the elastomer and conductive composite enable rapid and complete recovery of electrical conductivity (~1000 siemens per centimeter) and stretchability (~500%) in response to repetitive damages, and chemical interactions of interpenetrated polymer chains of these components facilitate robust adhesion strength, even under extreme mechanical stress. System-level demonstration of soft, self-healing electronics with diagnostic/therapeutic functions for the urinary bladder validates the possibility for versatile, practical uses in biomedical research areas.
Keyphrases
  • drug delivery
  • stem cells
  • mesenchymal stem cells
  • escherichia coli
  • staphylococcus aureus
  • bone marrow
  • tissue engineering
  • quantum dots