Stretchable Liquid Metal Joule Heating Electrode with Block Copolymer Dispersant
발표자
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초록
내용
Liquid metal is a widely used conductive material in soft robotics due to its high conductivity and excellent deformability, in contrast to conventional rigid materials. However, while common stretchable polymers (styrene-based rubber, PDMS, etc) are soluble in non-polar solvents, LM is rarely dispersed in those solvents, making it difficult to composite with polymers. To overcome the issue, we introduced polystyrene-block-polyethylene oxide block copolymer as dispersant. The LM interacted with the PEO block as an anchoring group and was stably dispersed in non-polar solvents. Furthermore, it was stably dispersed in the styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) polymer matrix without notable agglomeration, exhibiting ~700% stretchability and conductivity of 546.8 S cm-1. In addition, the BCP@LM@SBS composite film showed Joule heating performance and successfully actuated a thermal actuator. We believe that our work may provide a new pathway to designing Joule heating electrodes for soft robotics.