Microstructural origin of resistance-strain hysteresis in carbon nanotube thin film conductors.

ABSTRACT: A basic need in stretchable electronics for wearable and biomedical technologies is conductors that maintain adequate conductivity under large deformation. This challenge can be met by a network of one-dimensional (1D) conductors, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or silver nanowires, as a thin film on top of a stretchable substrate. The electrical resistance of CNT thin films exhibits a hysteretic dependence on strain under cyclic loading, although the microstructural origin of this strain dependence remains unclear. Through numerical simulations, analytic models, and experiments, we show that the hysteretic resistance evolution is governed by a microstructural parameter [Formula: see text] (the ratio of the mean projected CNT length over the film length) by showing that [Formula: see text]

SUBMITTER: Jin L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5834699 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature