Ultrafast self-healing and self-adhesive polysiloxane towards reconfigurable on-skin electronics

While polysiloxanes are the most widely used interface materials for on-skin electronics, they usually do not exhibit mechanical robustness and fast healing speed simultaneously due to the inherent contradiction of this pair of performances, let alone combining self-adhesiveness, reconfigurability, etc. Herein, we address this conundrum by building polydimethylsiloxane-dithiothreitol block polymer chains with ultrahigh mobility to promote the healing speed and forming a high density of hydroxyl and boronate ester dynamic cross-links to ensure good mechanical properties. This novel polysiloxane can not only achieve a satisfactory mechanical strength of 0.43 MPa and stretchability up to 1500% but also recover 100% of its original mechanical property at room temperature within only 30 s after damage, which is the fastest self-healing elastomer to date. Moreover, this material still has excellent self-adhesiveness to various surfaces both in air and under water and reconfigurability to any surface. These comprehensive properties are expected to considerably expand the application and promote the reliability of on-skin electronics.

Automated summary

This study presents a novel polysiloxane material with excellent mechanical properties and fast self-healing ability, as well as self-adhesiveness and reconfigurability. The material has the potential to significantly expand the application and improve the reliability of on-skin electronics.