journal article·2024-12

Stabilizing Metal Coating on Flexible Devices by Ultrathin Protein Nanofilms

Yingying Zhang, Hao Ren, Changhong Linghu, Jiqing Zhang, Aiting Gao, Hao Su, Shuting Miao, Rongrong Qin, Bowen Hu, Xiaojie Chen, Miaoran Deng, Yongchun Liu, Peng Yang

Advanced Materials· Volume 36· Issue 52
Publisher page

Abstract

Abstract The significant modulus difference between a metal coating and a polymer substrate leads to interface mismatches, seriously affecting the stability of flexible devices. Therefore, enhancing the adhesion stability of a metal layer on an inert polymer substrate to prevent delamination becomes a key challenge. Herein, an ultrathin protein nanofilm (UPN), synthesized by disulfide‐bond‐reducing protein aggregation, is proposed as a strong adhesive layer to enhance adhesion between polymer substrate and metal coating. Unlike traditional biopolymer adhesives with micrometer‐scale thicknesses, the UPN layer is minimized to nanometer/single‐molecular scale. Such UPN thereby effectively enhances the interfacial adhesive strength and reduces the cohesion contribution in the entire adhesion system by directly connecting two interfaces with a nearly single‐molecular thickness. Using UPN as the adhesive layer, a multifunctional metal coating could be reliably adhered on flexible polymer substrates by ion sputtering, delivering unprecedented adhesion stability even under repetitive mechanical deformation. Applications of this design include reversible transparency control, tension‐responsive encryption, reusable optical sensing, and wearable capacitive touch sensors. This work highlights UPN's potential to create strong bonding strength between flexible polymers and metal coatings, offering a biocompatible solution with high surface activity and low cohesion, facilitating the development of hybrid devices with stable metal nano‐coating.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials · Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions · Polymer Surface Interaction Studies

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Key Laboratory of Applied Surface and Colloid Chemistry Ministry of Education School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Shaanxi Normal University Xi'an 710119 China

Xi'an Key Laboratory of Polymeric Soft Matter School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Shaanxi Normal University Xi'an 710119 China

International Joint Research Center on Functional Fiber and Soft Smart Textile School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Shaanxi Normal University Xi'an 710119 China

School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Nanyang Technological University 50 Nanyang Avenue Singapore 639798 Singapore

College of Chemistry & Pharmacy Northwest Agriculture & Forestry University Yangling Shaanxi Province 712100 P. R. China

Frontiers Science Center for Flexible Electronics (FSCFE) Xi'an Institute of Flexible Electronics (IFE) and Xi'an Institute of Biomedical Materials & Engineering (IBME) Northwestern Polytechnical University Xi'an 710072 China

Funding

National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars · National Key Research and Development Program of China · Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Science and Technology Support Plan for Youth Innovation of Colleges and Universities of Shandong Province of China · Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities of the Central South University · International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of Shanxi Province

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