Highly stretchable and conductive fibers enabled by liquid metal dip-coating

Abstract

Highly stretchable and conductive fibers have been fabricated by dip-coating of a layer of liquid metal (eutectic gallium indium, EGaIn) on printed silicone elastomer filaments. This fabrication method exploits a nanolayer of oxide skin that rapidly forms on the surface of EGaIn when exposed to air. Through dip-coating, the sticky nature of the oxide skin leads to the formation of a thin EGaIn coating (∼5 μm thick) on the originally nonconductive filaments and renders these fibers excellent conductivity. Electrical characterization shows that the fiber resistance increases moderately as the fiber elongates but always maintains conductivity even when stretched by 800%. Besides this, these fibers possess good cyclic electrical stability with little degradation after hundreds of stretching cycles, which makes them an excellent candidate for stretchable conductors. We then demonstrate a highly stretchable LED circuit as well as a conductive stretchable net that extends the 1D fibers into a 2D configuration. These examples demonstrate potential applications for topologically complex stretchable electronics.