EAP

Abstract(#br)Metal ion implantation is shown here as an effective technique to fabricate highly compliant electrodes at room temperature on polymer substrates. By implanting 5 keV gold ions in polydimethylsiloxane we have fabricated micron-scale electrodes that conduct at 175% strain, have low surface resistance (\u003c 1 kΩ/square) and negligible thickness (50 nm). These electrodes have been cycled over 10 5 times to 30% strain with minimal change in electrical characteristics, and find applications in flexible electronics, polymer sensors and actuators.

The first high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) cross-section images of flexible electrodes fabricated by gold ion implantation at 5\n\t\t\t\t\t\tkeV into polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are presented. A TEM sample preparation method based on cryoultramicrotomy, adapted for extremely low-modulus (1\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMPa) elastomers, was developed, allowing the gold nanoparticles in a PDMS matrix to be imaged. The cluster size, size distribution and implantation depth of 50\n\t\t\t\t\t\tnm were determined from the images and used to calculate the Young’s modulus of the implanted layer.