College of Materials Science and Engineering, Key Lab of Guangdong Province for High Property and Functional Macromolecular Materials, South China University of Technology , Guangzhou 510640, P. R. China.
Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering and Polymer Program, Institute of Materials Science, University of Connecticut , Storrs, Connecticut 06269, United States.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2018 Jan 31;10(4):4305-4314. doi: 10.1021/acsami.7b17790. Epub 2018 Jan 18.
Ionic liquids (ILs) are regarded as ideal components in the next generation of strain sensors because their ultralow modulus can commendably circumvent or manage the mechanical mismatch in traditional strain sensors. In addition to strain sensors, stretchable conductors with a strain-insensitive conductance are also indispensable in artificial systems for connecting and transporting electrons, similar to the function of blood vessels in the human body. In this work, two types of ILs-based conductive fibers were fabricated by developing hollow fibers with specific microscale channels, which were then filled with ILs. Typically, the ILs-based fiber with straight microchannels exhibited a high strain sensitivity and simultaneously rapid responses to strain, pressure, and temperature. The other ILs-based fiber with helical microchannels exhibited a good strain-isolate conductance under strain. Due to the high transparency of ILs along with the sealing process, the as-prepared ILs-based fibers are both highly transparent and waterproof. More importantly, owing to the low modulus of ILs and the core-shell structure, both conductive fiber prototypes demonstrated a high durability (>10 000 times) and a long-term stability (>4 months). Ultimately, the ILs-based fibrous sensors were successfully woven into gloves, flaunting the ability to detect human breathing patterns, sign language, hand gestures, and arm motions. The ILs-based strain-insensitive fibers were successfully applied in stretchable wires as well.
离子液体 (ILs) 被认为是下一代应变传感器的理想组成部分，因为它们的超低模量可以出色地避免或管理传统应变传感器中的机械不匹配。除了应变传感器外，具有应变不敏感电导率的可拉伸导体在人工电子连接和传输系统中也是必不可少的，类似于人体血管的功能。在这项工作中，通过开发具有特定微尺度通道的中空纤维来制备两种基于 ILs 的导电纤维，然后将 ILs 填充到纤维中。通常，具有直微通道的基于 ILs 的纤维表现出高应变灵敏度和对应变、压力和温度的快速响应。另一种具有螺旋微通道的基于 ILs 的纤维在应变下表现出良好的应变隔离电导。由于 ILs 的高透明度和密封过程，所制备的基于 ILs 的纤维既高度透明又防水。更重要的是，由于 ILs 的低模量和核壳结构，两种导电纤维原型都表现出高耐用性（>10000 次）和长期稳定性（>4 个月）。最终，基于 ILs 的纤维状传感器成功编织成手套，能够检测人体呼吸模式、手语、手势和手臂运动。应变不敏感纤维也成功应用于可拉伸电线中。
