Elastic electronics based on micromesh-structured rubbery semiconductor films

• Published in: Nature electronics Vol. 5; no. 12; pp. 881 - 892
• Main Authors: Guan, Ying-Shi, Ershad, Faheem, Rao, Zhoulyu, Ke, Zhifan, da Costa, Ernesto Curty, Xiang, Qian, Lu, Yuntao, Wang, Xu, Mei, Jianguo, Vanderslice, Peter, Hochman-Mendez, Camila, Yu, Cunjiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-12-2022
• Subjects: 639/166/987; 639/301/1005; 639/301/1005/1007; 639/301/923; Electrical Engineering; Engineering
• ISSN: 2520-1131; 2520-1131
• DOI: 10.1038/s41928-022-00874-z

The development of soft electronics that can be seamlessly integrated with biological tissue requires intrinsically stretchable rubbery semiconductors with high carrier mobilities. However, the scalable fabrication of rubbery semiconductors remains challenging, particularly using methods that are simple and reproducible. Here we report rubbery semiconductor thin films that are based on a lateral-phase-separation-induced micromesh. A two-polymer blend solution is spin coated on a substrate and forms micromesh morphologies via lateral phase separation, consisting of a continuous organic semiconductor-rich phase and an isolated elastomer-rich phase. The micromesh-structured rubbery semiconductors simultaneously provide efficient charge transport and mechanical stretchability, and by using different polymer blends, we create both p-type and n-type rubbery semiconductor films. The films are used to construct rubbery transistors, complementary inverters and bilayer heterojunction photodetectors that can function even under applied strains of up to 50%. We also create an electronic patch that has a transistor active matrix fully made of rubbery materials and can be used to map the biopotentials of a rat heart.
Semiconductor polymer films that are based on a lateral-phase-separation-induced micromesh can be used to create transistors, complementary inverters and bilayer heterojunction photodetectors that can function under applied strains of up to 50%.