Archimedean Spiral Inspired Conductive Supramolecular Elastomer with Rapid Electrical and Mechanical Self‐Healing Capability for Sensor Application

Abstract

Abstract In addition to flexibility and stretchability, self‐healing capability will become another characteristic for next‐generation electronics and devices. However, developing electronic materials with both good mechanical and electrical self‐healing abilities still remains a great challenge yet an exciting goal. Herein, a new kind of self‐healing conductive elastomer via alliance of supramolecular chemistry and Archimedean spiral‐structure design is reported to break the trade‐off between mechanical and electrical healing capabilities. The spirally structured conductive layout enables the material to rapidly self‐heal both mechanical (within 15 s) and electrical (within 0.25 s) damages with high efficiency, while without sacrificing the softness and stretchability of the self‐healing elastomer matrix. As a proof‐of‐concept, such materials can be used to fabricate self‐healable wearable sensors for monitoring diverse human activities. The rapidly, efficiently, mechanically, and electrically self‐healing materials demonstrated in this work facilitate the design and application of a wide range of stretchable and reliable electronic devices.