Facile control of stretchability and electrical resistance of elastomer/ polyaniline composites for stretchable conductors

Abstract

Porous elastomer/polyaniline (PANI) composites with high stretchability and adjustable resistance were successfully fabricated using a facile immersion method. Nitrile-butadiene rubber (NBR) and polyurethane (PU) sponges, which functioned as basic building blocks, were simply dipped into PANI solution. The weight fraction of PANI absorbed into the sponges monotonically increased with an increase in the number of immersion cycles, leading to the gradual decrease of electrical resistance. A NBR/PANI composite showed a high elongation at break of 250% even after 7 cycles of immersion and relatively small strain-dependent resistance change (190% at a 210% strain). This simple method to tune both mechanical stretchability and electrical resistance may be a useful means for the realization of organic stretchable conductors. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.