PAAMPSA/PANI/PA Composite with AgnW Fillers Demonstrates Unprecedented Mechanical Performance

Wearable sensors, stretchable electronics, and many soft robotics materials must have a

sufficiently high balance of conductivity, stretchability, and robustness. Intrinsically conductive

polymers offer a critical step toward improving wearable sensor materials due to their tunable

conductivity, soft/compliant nature, and ability to complex with other synergistic molecules (i.e.,

polyacids, small molecule dopants). The addition of nanofillers offers the potential to improve

the conductivity of polymers for soft robotics and wearable applications. While nanofillers

typically increase conductivity at the expense of mechanical properties, here we show an

increase in both conductivity and mechanical properties, which the interface between the

polymer matrix and the AgNW is hypothesized to be integral for the formation of an active

conductive network. These form a polymer nanocomposite with high electronic sensitivity,

unprecedented mechanical properties (a maximum strain of 4693% at ambient humidity; ~52

RH%), and repeatable, autonomous self-healing efficiencies of greater than 98%. The AgNW TP

complex has an engineering strain higher than all hydrogel and other polymeric sensor materials.