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Polymer-Based Soft Electronics

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2020) | Viewed by 17284

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Plant & Environmental New Resources, College of Life Sciences, Graduate School of Biotechnology, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Interests: functional polymers; conductive polymers; nanostructured materials; hydrogels; cellulose; nanocomposites; bioelectronics; sensors; microelectrodes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, Republic of Korea
Interests: functional nanomaterials; nanoporous materials; polymers; metal-organic frameworks (MOF); carbon; metal oxide; metal; nanostructure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Functional polymer materials have attracted considerable attention for various applications, such as electronics, energy storage, sensors, bio-applications, environmentally-related applications, etc., due to their electrochemical properties, as well as their flexibility, processability, and easy hybridization with other materials. Polymers are especially considered promising candidates as conductive materials and soft substrates for next-generation flexible/soft electronics. Recently, polymers have been identified as one of the key materials in emerging electronics fields such as foldable cell phones, wearable devices, and flexible energy storages/devices. This Special Issue aims to explore scientific advances in functional polymer materials ranging from synthesis to processes and practical applications for various soft electronics.

Prof. Jungmok You
Assist. Prof. Jeonghun Kim
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • polymer
  • functional polymer
  • conductive polymer
  • polymer-based composite
  • micro/nanofabrication
  • flexible/stretchable electrode
  • soft electronics

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 2023 KiB  
Article
Preparation and Characterization of Semi-Alicyclic Polyimides Containing Trifluoromethyl Groups for Optoelectronic Application
by Mei Zhang, Weili Liu, Xia Gao, Peng Cui, Tao Zou, Guanghui Hu, Liming Tao and Lei Zhai
Polymers 2020, 12(7), 1532; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12071532 - 11 Jul 2020
Cited by 33 | Viewed by 4766
Abstract
Transparent polyimides (PI) films with outstanding overall performance are attractive for next generation optoelectronic and microelectronic applications. Semi-alicyclic PIs derived from alicyclic dianhydrides and aromatic diamines have proved effective to prepare transparent PIs with high transmittance. To optimize the combined properties of semi-alicyclic [...] Read more.
Transparent polyimides (PI) films with outstanding overall performance are attractive for next generation optoelectronic and microelectronic applications. Semi-alicyclic PIs derived from alicyclic dianhydrides and aromatic diamines have proved effective to prepare transparent PIs with high transmittance. To optimize the combined properties of semi-alicyclic PIs, incorporating bulky trifluoromethyl groups into the backbones is regarded as a powerful tool. However, the lack of fundamental understanding of structure–property relationships of fluorinated semi-alicyclic PIs constrains the design and engineering of advanced films for such challenging applications. Herein, a series of semi-alicyclic PIs derived from alicyclic dianhydrides and trifluoromethyl-containing aromatic diamines was synthesized by solution polycondensation at high temperature. The effects of alicyclic structures and bulky trifluoromethyl groups on thermal, dielectric and optical properties of PIs were investigated systematically. These PI films had excellent solubility, low water absorption and good mechanical property. They showed high heat resistance with Tg in the range of 294–390 °C. It is noted that tensile strength and thermal stability were greatly affected by the rigid linkages and alicyclic moieties, respectively. These films exhibited obviously low refractive indices and significantly reduced dielectric constants from 2.61 to 2.76, together with low optical birefringence and dielectric anisotropy. Highly transparent films exhibited cutoff wavelength even as low as 298 nm and transmittance at 500 nm over 85%, displaying almost colorless appearance with yellowness index (b*) below 4.2. The remarkable optical improvement should be mainly ascribed to both weak electron-accepting alicyclic units and bulky electron-withdrawing trifluoromethyl or sulfone groups. The present work provides an effective strategy to design molecular structures of optically transparent PIs for a trade-off between solution-processability, low water uptake, good toughness, high heat resistance, low dielectric constant and excellent optical transparency. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Soft Electronics)
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20 pages, 3482 KiB  
Article
Multi-Trigger Thermo-Electro-Mechanical Soft Actuators under Large Deformations
by Ebrahim Yarali, Reza Noroozi, Armin Yousefi, Mahdi Bodaghi and Mostafa Baghani
Polymers 2020, 12(2), 489; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym12020489 - 23 Feb 2020
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4021
Abstract
Dielectric actuators (DEAs), because of their exceptional properties, are well-suited for soft actuators (or robotics) applications. This article studies a multi-stimuli thermo-dielectric-based soft actuator under large bending conditions. In order to determine the stress components and induced moment (or stretches), a nominal Helmholtz [...] Read more.
Dielectric actuators (DEAs), because of their exceptional properties, are well-suited for soft actuators (or robotics) applications. This article studies a multi-stimuli thermo-dielectric-based soft actuator under large bending conditions. In order to determine the stress components and induced moment (or stretches), a nominal Helmholtz free energy density function with two types of hyperelastic models are employed. Non-linear electro-elasticity theory is adopted to derive the governing equations of the actuator. Total deformation gradient tensor is multiplicatively decomposed into electro-mechanical and thermal parts. The problem is solved using the second-order Runge-Kutta method. Then, the numerical results under thermo-mechanical loadings are validated against the finite element method (FEM) outcomes by developing a user-defined subroutine, UHYPER in a commercial FEM software. The effect of electric field and thermal stimulus are investigated on the mean radius of curvature and stresses distribution of the actuator. Results reveal that in the presence of electric field, the required moment to actuate the actuator is smaller. Finally, due to simplicity and accuracy of the present boundary problem, the proposed thermally-electrically actuator is expected to be used in future studies and 4D printing of artificial thermo-dielectric-based beam muscles. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Soft Electronics)
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9 pages, 2975 KiB  
Article
Flexible Bandpass Filter Fabricated on Polyimide Substrate by Surface Modification and In Situ Self-Metallization Technique
by Huiwen Qu, Zhiliang Wang and Dingyong Cang
Polymers 2019, 11(12), 2068; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11122068 - 12 Dec 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4771
Abstract
Polymer, especially polyimide (PI), is the best suitable substrate material for the design of flexible electronics. The compact silver can be reduced on the surface of PI films by surface modification and in situ self-metallization technique. The formed silver layers have good electrical [...] Read more.
Polymer, especially polyimide (PI), is the best suitable substrate material for the design of flexible electronics. The compact silver can be reduced on the surface of PI films by surface modification and in situ self-metallization technique. The formed silver layers have good electrical and mechanical flexibility. A flexible bandpass filter on a PI flexible substrate by surface modification and in situ self-metallization technique at room temperature are presented in this work. Measured results show that the proposed flexible bandpass filter could achieve a fractional bandwidth of 80.8% with an insertion loss (IL) of less than 0.6 dB. The performance of the designed filter is almost constant under different bending, folding, and rolling conditions. The formed silver layers also present good adhesion with PI substrates. This technology provides an alternative approach for manufacturing flexible filters without high-temperature thermal annealing, costly equipment, and vacuum conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Soft Electronics)
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11 pages, 2728 KiB  
Article
Polyaniline Nanotubes/Carbon Cloth Composite Electrode by Thermal Acid Doping for High-Performance Supercapacitors
by Jia Hui, Daoxin Wei, Jing Chen and Zhou Yang
Polymers 2019, 11(12), 2053; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11122053 - 11 Dec 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3251
Abstract
Carbon materials have been widely used in designing supercapacitors (SCs) but the capacitance is not ideal. Herein, we synthesize polyaniline (PANI) nanotubes on the basis of a carbon cloth (CC) through a one-step self-degradation template method, and fabricate a CC@PANI NTs-H (CC@PANI nanotubes [...] Read more.
Carbon materials have been widely used in designing supercapacitors (SCs) but the capacitance is not ideal. Herein, we synthesize polyaniline (PANI) nanotubes on the basis of a carbon cloth (CC) through a one-step self-degradation template method, and fabricate a CC@PANI NTs-H (CC@PANI nanotubes doping at high temperature) composite electrode by thermal acid doping. The CC@PANI NTs-H electrode obviously exhibits better electrochemical performance with a gravimetric capacitance of 438 F g−1 and maintains 86.8% after 10,000 cycles than the CC@PANI NTs-R (CC@PANI nanotubes doping at room temperature) electrode. Furthermore, we assemble a flexible solid state supercapacitor (FSSC) device with the as-prepared CC@PANI NTs-H composite electrodes, showing good flexibility and outstanding electrochemical performances with a high gravimetric capacitance of 247 F g−1, a large energy density of 21.9 Wh kg−1, and a capacitance retention of 85.4% after 10,000 charge and discharge cycles. Our work proposes a novel and easy pathway to fabricate low-cost FSSCs for the development of energy storage devices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer-Based Soft Electronics)
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