Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Jun 28;52(54):8455-8.
doi: 10.1039/c6cc03579e.

Reversible photo-patterning of soft conductive materials via spatially-defined supramolecular assembly

Xun He  1 , Jingwei Fan  1 , Jiong Zou  1 , Karen L Wooley  1
Affiliations

Reversible photo-patterning of soft conductive materials via spatially-defined supramolecular assembly

Xun He et al. Chem Commun (Camb). .

Abstract

A strategy for reversible patterning of soft conductive materials is described, based upon a combination of peptide-based block copolymer hydrogelators and photo-thermally-active carbon nanotubes. This composite displays photo-responsive gelation at application-relevant timescales (<10 s), allowing for rapid and spatially-defined construction of conductive patterns (>100 S m(-1)), which, additionally, hold the capability to revert to sol upon sonication for reprocessing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
TEM images of (a) SWCNT sol and (b) PEG-b-PDLAG/SWCNT composite sol, without staining. SEM images of aerogels of (c) 5 wt% PEG-b-PDLAG and (d) 5 wt% PEG-b-PDLAG/0.5 wt% SWCNT composite.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) Moduli of PEG-b-PDLAG/SWCNT hydrogels as a function of frequency conducted by DMA (E′ and E″ indicate storage and loss modulus, respectively). (b) IR spectra of polymer/SWCNT aerogel, polymer aerogel, and SWCNTs.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Reversible stimuli-responsive sol-gel transitions of the composite material having 5 wt% PEG-b-PDLAG and 0.5 wt% SWCNT. TEM images of (b) PEG-b-PDLAG/SWCNT composite sol, (c) PEG-b-PDLAG/SWCNT composite gel, (d) PEG-b-PDLAG gel, and (e) SWCNT sol, with phosphotungstic acid stain. For each TEM image, the sample concentrations were at 1 mg/mL PEG-b-PDLAG and 0.1 mg/mL SWCNT, if applicable.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Schematic illustration of the reversible photo-patterning process for production of soft electronics. (b) Electrical conductivity of composite films (PEG45-b-PDLAG28/SWCNT) as a function of percentage SWCNT incorporation. (c) A printed free standing thin film fabricated into a Möbius strip.
Scheme 1
Scheme 1
(a) Relationships between the functions of the PEG-b-PDLAG and SWCNT composite components. (b) Illustrative formation of β sheets as constructive units of nanofibrils.
Scheme 2
Scheme 2
Schematic illustration of a PEG-b-PDLAG/SWCNT dispersion, and reversible conversion of polymeric supramolecular structures that correlates to the formation or break-down of gel matrix in response to a stimulus.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Du X, Li J, Welle A, Li L, Feng W, Levkin PA. Adv Mater. 2015;27:4997–5001. - PubMed
    1. Gandavarapu NR, Azagarsamy MA, Anseth KS. Adv Mater. 2014;26:2521–2526. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arumugam S, Popik VV. J Am Chem Soc. 2012;134:8408–8411. - PubMed
    1. Draper ER, Eden EGB, McDonald TO, Adams DJ. Nat Chem. 2015;7:848–852. - PubMed
    1. Maity C, Hendriksen WE, van Esch JH, Eelkema R. Angew Chem Int Ed. 2015;54:998–1001. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources