Universal assembly of liquid metal particles in polymers enables elastic printed circuit board.
Wonbeom LeeHyunjun KimInho KangHongjun ParkJiyoung JungHaeseung LeeHyunchang ParkJi Su ParkJong Min YukSeunghwa RyuJae-Woong JeongJiheong KangPublished in: Science (New York, N.Y.) (2022)
An elastic printed circuit board (E-PCB) is a conductive framework used for the facile assembly of system-level stretchable electronics. E-PCBs require elastic conductors that have high conductivity, high stretchability, tough adhesion to various components, and imperceptible resistance changes even under large strain. We present a liquid metal particle network (LMP<sub>Net</sub>) assembled by applying an acoustic field to a solid-state insulating liquid metal particle composite as the elastic conductor. The LMP<sub>Net</sub> conductor satisfies all the aforementioned requirements and enables the fabrication of a multilayered high-density E-PCB, in which numerous electronic components are intimately integrated to create highly stretchable skin electronics. Furthermore, we could generate the LMP<sub>Net</sub> in various polymer matrices, including hydrogels, self-healing elastomers, and photoresists, thus showing their potential for use in soft electronics.