(338f) A Versatile Conductive Ternary Polymer Complex Nanocomposite Sensor with Repeatable, Rapid, Autonomous Self-Healing and Unprecedented Mechanical Properties

Wearable sensors, stretchable electronics, and many soft robotics materials must have high stretchability, flexibility, and robustness while also maintaining a sufficiently high conductivity and sensitivity. Intrinsically conductive polymers offer a critical step toward improving wearable sensor materials due to their tunable conductivity, soft/compliant nature, and ability to complex with other synergistic molecules (i.e.,polyacids, small molecule dopants). The addition of nanofillers offers the potential to improve the conductivity of polymers for soft robotics and wearable applications. While nanofillers typically increase conductivity at the expensive of mechanical properties, here we show an increase in both conductivity and mechanical properties, which the interface between the polymer matrix and the AgNW is hypothesized to be integral for the formation of an active conductive network. These form a polymer nanocomposite with high electronic sensitivity, unprecedented mechanical properties (a maximum strain of 4693% at ambient humidity; ~52 RH%), and repeatable, autonomous self-healing efficiencies of greater than 98%. The AgNW TP complex has an engineering strain higher than all hydrogel and other polymeric sensor materials. To illustrate the remarkable sensitivity, the material was employed as a biomedical sensor (pulse,voice recognition, motion), topographical sensor, and high sensitivity sensor.