Silver Nanowires Deposited on Triblock Copolymer Microfibers for Stretchable Conductive Fabrics

Soft electronics have attracted much attention due to their conformal flexibility with skin tissue. In this work, soft and stretchable conductive fabrics were prepared based on the interface design of a poly(styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene) (SEBS) thermoplastic elastomer and silver nanowires (AgNWs). AgNWs with a diameter of 200 nm, high aspect ratio, and high conductivity were prepared by a polyol reduction method. The amphiphilic triblock copolymer poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(propylene oxide)- poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO-PPO-PEO) was used to improve the wettability of SEBS electrospun fibers. According to the solubility parameters, hot ethanol was chosen to post-treat the electrospun fabrics to induce the migration of the hydrophilic PEO blocks to the outer layer of the fibers so that dopamine was uniformly polymerized on the surface of the hydrophilic SEBS. AgNWs can uniformly and flexibly bind to the surface of SEBS@PDA fibers. Our study provides a simple and controllable approach to realizing stable large-strain soft stretchable electronics and exhibits great potential in human skin extension applications.