Self-healing refers to the ability to repair itself spontaneously upon mechanical damages. The self-healing feature is highly desirable for electronics and energy storage devices, which suffer from mechanical failures and short lifetime. Here, we have successfully implanted self-healing capabilities into high-performance electronic skin, energy storage and actuators by using polymer material design. By designing and synthesizing a supramolecular hydrogen bonding polymer composite, the first repeatable, room-temperature self-healing electronic sensor skin was demonstrated. A conductivity as high as 40 S/cm was measured for our composite. The composite material is mechanically flexible, and is capable of sensing tactile and flexion forces. [1] The self-healing concept was further introduced into silicon microparticle based high-capacity lithium ion batteries to overcome their short cycling lifetime. Using the self-healing approach, anodes made from low-cost SiMPs (∼3–8 microns), for which stable deep galvanostatic cycling was previously impossible, can now have an excellent cycle life when coated with a self-healing polymer. We attain a cycle life ten times longer than state-of-art anodes made from SiMPs and still retain a high capacity (up to ∼3,000 mAh/g). [2] Moreover, a self-healing artificial muscle was made successfully by designing and synthesizing an ultra-stretchable self-healing elastomers based on metal ligand coordination interactions. The actuator made from the new polymer has similar performance with conventional actuators. Upon mechanical damage such as a penetration, it can self-heal at room temperature. [3]

Self-healing polymers for electronic skin, energy storage and actuators

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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