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Composites Of Poly(Dimethylsiloxane) And Silica Nanoparticles As An Approach To Manipulating The Conductivity Of Stretchable Gold Films, Brittany Ives
Composites Of Poly(Dimethylsiloxane) And Silica Nanoparticles As An Approach To Manipulating The Conductivity Of Stretchable Gold Films, Brittany Ives
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Stretchable conductors play a fundamental role in wearable electronics as device electrodes and interconnects. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is conventionally used as the platform for stretchable conductors which are fabricated by depositing a thin layer of gold metal onto the surface. These gold films fail electrically under minimal strains (15-20% linear elongation) due to uncontrolled crack propagation through the metal film. Adding a rough microstructured polymer layer onto the PDMS surface preserves electrical conductivity in metal films to higher elongations of 60% due to the numerous sites for strain localization. However, such heterogeneous layered systems are vulnerable to delamination, leading to device …