Science subjournal: in the future, the circuit is not rigid. Bao Zhenan's team has developed transparent flexible electrodes

At present, smart clothes begin to appear in our life But if we want to make clothing as scientific and technological as real electronic products, and make their circuits not as rigid as branches to restrict our actions, we need to make the circuits become both sensitive and resilient Now this kind of circuit material seems to have been found Recently, a research team led by Bao Zhenan, a Chinese professor at Stanford University, published a report in the new issue of American Journal of scientific progress, saying that they have developed a kind of polymer material with excellent conductivity and tensile property, which can be used for stretch plastic electrodes The flexible electrode can also be used as a wearable electronic device Bao's team has long been devoted to the study of flexible electrodes, which are electronic technologies that make electronic devices on flexible or ductile plastic or thin metal substrates Bao said that the existing electronic devices, including electrodes and materials, are hard If they are used to measure central nervous current and heart current, the implanted brain or heart may damage the nerve or heart tissue Therefore, electrodes in contact with nerves need to be as soft as skin, which is an important problem to be solved in flexible electronic applications It is well known that plastics are insulators If we directly use plastics as substrates, the conductivity will become very poor "We think that if we add insulating materials, we will get very poor conductivity, especially when we add more plastics," said Bao "However, the flexible polymer we found is not only a very thin material with 96% light transmittance almost reaching transparency, but also has high conductivity in fact It is one of the materials with the highest transparency and electrode value reported If it is applied to the substrate of flexible electrode, it is the best." In order to increase the toughness and mechanical properties of the material, the researchers used a molecular additive similar to soap surfactant to change the force between the molecules of the material Bao explained that the small particle shape formed by the original molecules seems to have become the shape of a fishing net The shape of the net makes it easier for the polymer to stretch After testing, when the new material is stretched to twice the original length, it can still maintain high conductivity After finding the electrode material for stretching, the next step is to verify whether the material can be implanted into the organism and whether it will cause damage to the bio extraction, Bao said.