Researchers have developed a soft, flexible material with adaptive durability that strengthens upon impact, suitable for wearable technology and medical sensors. Credit: SciTechDaily.com
The researchers presented their results today at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society . ACS Spring 2024 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in person March 17-21; it features nearly 12,000 presentations on a range of science topics. Postdoctoral researcher Di Wu talks about a polymer material he is helping to develop that is flexible and becomes tougher, depending on how the body moves.Many materials, such as metals, that conduct electricity are hard, stiff, or brittle. But researchers have developed ways to make soft and bendable versions using conjugated polymers — long, spaghetti-like molecules that are conductive. Yet, most flexible polymers break apart if they undergo repeated, rapid or large impacts.
However, Wu wanted to see how adding small molecules could create a composite material that was even tougher when stretched or dropped quickly. Because all the polymers had charges, the team chose molecules with positive, negative or neutral charges to test. Then they assessed how the additives modified the polymers’ interactions and impacted each material’s adaptive durability.