Ag Nanowire-Based Stretchable Electrodes and Wearable Sensor Arrays

Attributed to excellent mechanical compatibility with the human body and thus favorable comfortability and good integrability, stretchable conductors and functional conductive patterns have been one of the most important components in wearable electronic devices. However, due to poor compatibility between stretchability and conductivity in most material system, the simple, fast, and low-cost fabrication of a stretchable conductor, especially conductive patterns, has been a problem to address in this field. In this paper, we propose a flexible and robust laser ablation method in combination with a two-step film transfer process for the fabrication of stretchable silver nanowire (AgNW)-based conductive patterns. In this method, three critical steps were involved for the optimized properties. First, a simple one-pot solvothermal method was developed for scalable synthesis of high-quality AgNWs; second, a reliable film transfer method was proposed to ensure complete replication of the properties of the AgNW film; third, a digital laser ablation technique was employed for the selective removal of the AgNW layer. Finally, stretchable transparent conductive electrodes, circuits, and functional patterns were fabricated. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, a wearable sensor and multipixel capacitive sensor arrays were prepared and showed good and reliable performance under various deformations, indicating the proposed method is available for the fabrication of various stretchable conductive patterns.