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A team of Harvard University researchers announced on the 29th that they have created stretchable and transparent ion conductors in the laboratory that can operate at frequencies above 10,000 hertz and above 10,000 volts. This ion conductor has a broad application prospect in the fields of medicine, flexible robots and flexible optical devices.
Stretchable conductors can be applied in many fields such as biomedicine and become a research hotspot in the industry. However, most of the existing stretchable conductors are electronic conductors. Although they have good conductivity and stretchability, they work under high-frequency high-voltage or high-deformation conditions, and the conductive properties will be greatly affected. In addition, the transparency and the bio-phase will be affected. Capacities are not as good as ionic conductors.
The head of the research team and Professor Shi Zhigang of the Harvard School of Applied Science and Engineering said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency that they used a combination of salt water and a polymer network to make hydrogel ion conductors. In hydrogels, water ionically conducts electricity and the polymer network provides a solid shape. "Our hydrogels are like jelly and jelly, but they are extremely stretchable and can stretch more than 5 times." They made a series of devices using hydrogels, including a fully transparent large deformation sensor and a transparent speaker that can hold a variety of volume music.
For the results that have been published in the magazine "Science", Suo Zhigang said that using ion conductors to make devices usually encounters two difficulties: one is that high voltages cause electrochemical reactions, and the other is that ions are larger than electrons and heavy. The movement speed is much slower, causing the ionic conductor to have a much lower conductivity than many electronic conductors. They solved these two problems with insulating rubber.
Lock Zhigang explained that in their devices, they are sandwiched between two layers of ion conductors with insulating rubber so that they can control the voltage interface and eliminate the occurrence of electrochemical reactions. At the same time, the rubber layer, as a capacitor, can cause a large amount of deformation as long as it has a small amount of charge. Because of its small capacitance, the frequency of the device can be extremely high, so that the ionic conductor can be used as a high-frequency device without being limited by the conductivity problem.
For the meaning of ionic conductors, Zhi Zhigang said that the diversity of ion conductors will provide more choices for various applications. For example, modern medicine requires electronic devices to directly contact the skin, heart, and brain. Stretchable, transparent, and biocompatible ion conductors may be more suitable than electronic conductors.
Zhizong Zhi acknowledged that hydrogels have deficiencies as ion conductors, including the tendency for moisture to evaporate and become dry. Therefore, they plan to develop non-volatile ion conductors in the next step. In addition, they also plan to use ionic conductors to create flexible robot control elements and biomedical devices. (Reporter Lin Xiaochun)
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