Strong and highly stretchable ionic conductive elastomer based on hydrogen bonding

Abstract Rise and development of flexible electronic devices require stretchable semiconductors, but there remains a striking issue of a destruction in conductive network under large deformation. Herein, inspired by the composition of the deep eutectic solvent (DES), we fabricate an ionic conductive elastomer by doping 1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([HOEtMIm]Cl) into acid-hydrolyzed copolymer of n-butyl acrylate (nBA) and tert-butyl acrylate (tBA). As a result, our fabricated acid-hydrolyzed P(nAB-co-tBA)/[HOEtMIm]Cl composites possess superior ductility, high tensile strength (1.86 MPa) and good electrical conductivity (2.03 ×10-6 S·cm-1), meanwhile, there is no sudden drop in resistance during stretching. [HOEtMIm]Cl disperses uniformly in the matrix as it’s associated with the matrix through hydrogen bonding. As an attempt, we demonstrate its application for touch sensor as well as strain sensor.