A Hierarchical Metal Nanowire Network Structure for Durable, Cost-Effective, Stretchable, and Breathable Electronics

Polymer nanofiber-based porous structures (“breathable devices”) have been developed for breathable epidermal electrodes, piezoelectric nanogenerators, temperature sensors, and strain sensors, but their applications are limited because increasing the porosity reduces device robustness. Herein, we report an approach to produce ultradurable, cost-effective breathable electronics using a hierarchical metal nanowire network and an optimized photonic sintering process. Photonic sintering significantly reduces the sheet resistance (16.25 to 6.32 Ω sq–1) and is 40% more effective than conventional thermal annealing (sheet resistance: 12.99 Ω sq–1). The mechanical durability of the sintered (648.9 Ω sq–1) sample is notably improved compared to that of the untreated (disconnected) and annealed (19.1 kΩ sq–1) samples after 10,000 deformation cycles at 40% tensile strain. The sintered sample exhibits ∼29 times less change in electrical performance compared to the thermally annealed sample. This approach will lead to the development of affordable and ultradurable commercial breathable electronics.