A team of researchers have created a new type of soft circuit electronics that can be used in cell phones and laptops.
The soft circuitry is intended to replace inflexible, rigid materials that use soldered wires throughout electronic devices, noted the Virginia Tech researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Macromolecules Innovation Institute.
Led by assistant professor Michael Bartlett, the research team described the characteristics of skin-like circuits as soft and stretchy, with an ability to sustain damage events under load without losing electrical conductivity. In addition, the soft circuit can be recycled to generate new circuits at the end of a product’s life.
These new electronic composites and tiny, electricity-conducting liquid metal droplets are part of a rapidly emerging field of technology that gives gadgets a level of durability that would have been impossible just a few years ago, noted the researchers.
How it Works
The researchers explained that liquid metal droplets are dispersed in an elastomer, a type of rubbery polymer, as electrically insulated, discrete drops. The reconfigurable droplets and reprocessable polymer matrix enable robust, electrical circuitry is self-healing and reconfigurable.
“To make circuits, we introduced a scalable approach through embossing, which allows us to rapidly create tunable circuits by selectively connecting droplets,” postdoctoral researcher and first author Ravi Tutika said. “We can then locally break the droplets apart to remake circuits and can even completely dissolve the circuits to break all the connections to recycle the materials, and then start back at the beginning.”
Due to the circuits’ flexibility, it continues to work even under extreme stress or damage. For instance, if the circuit is punctured, the droplets make new connections around the hole to complete the circuit and pass electricity. Compare this property to using traditional wire, where an interrupted connection means cutting power.
Another property of the stretchy material is that the circuit will stretch to more than 10 times its originally length without losing electrical connection or failure.
Once the material reaches its end of life, the metal droplets and the rubbery materials can be reprocessed and returned to a liquid solution. From that point, noted the researchers, they can be “remade to start a new life.” This recyclable characteristic offers a pathway and to sustainable electronics, but also holds promise for wearable electronics and soft robotics.
“We’re excited about our progress and envision these materials as key components for emerging soft technologies,” Bartlett said. “This work gets closer to creating soft circuitry that could survive in a variety of real-world applications.”
Findings of the research were published in Communications Materials, an open access journal from Nature Research.
