Advanced Printing Transfer of Assembled Silver Nanowire Network into Elastomer for Constructing Stretchable Conductors

Excellent electrical performance of assemblies of 1-D silver nanowires (AgNWs) has been demonstrated in the past years. Up to now, however, there have been limited approaches to realize simultaneously deterministic assembly with dense arrangement of AgNWs and desired functional layouts. Herein, we proposed an assembly strategy from compressed air-modulated alignment of AgNWs to heterogeneous integration of stretchable sensing devices through printing transfer. In this process, a convective flow induced by compressed air brings the AgNWs to the air-droplet interface, where the AgNWs are assembled with excellent alignment and packing due to the surface flow, van der Waals and capillary interactions. Compared with those random AgNWs networks, the oriented, densely packed AgNWs exhibit a lower and uniform electrical sheet resistance. To incorporate the AgNWs to an elastomer substrate, direct ink writing was employed to transfer the assembled AgNW network to the printed silicone elastomer with desirable patterns. Excellent electrical property was demonstrated including a wide electrical response range from 10% to 120% strain, and high electrical repeatability. An antibacterial property was confirmed, notifying additional benefit as wearable sensors. The printing transfer of pre-assembled AgNW networks to the printed elastomer patterns has provided a facile strategy to construct stretchable electronic devices. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.