A Laminating Strategy to Manyfold Enhance the Elastic Stretchability of Stretchable Electronics

ABSTRACT Achieving high elastic stretchability remains a central focus and persistent challenge in stretchable electronics. Widely adopted fabrication techniques like coating and photolithography produce thin‐ribbon metallic structures that facilitate stretchability through various strategies. Nevertheless, their ultra‐thin nature causes out‐of‐plane buckling and stress concentration, limiting elastic stretchability, especially on substrates with elastic moduli in the megapascal range, greatly restricting practical use. Here, we propose a laminating strategy that laminates a thick‐polymer layer onto the thin‐ribbon metallic structure. Using serpentine structures on soft and hard substrates as representative cases, this approach increases elastic stretchability by 3.5‐fold and 2.3‐fold. The enhancement results from transforming the deformation mode from out‐of‐plane buckling to in‐plane bending, effectively reducing stress concentration and generating significant angles for straight segments to endure larger stretching. As a device‐level example, this strategy enables stretchable sensors to measure large strains in smart tires with hard substrates and shows broad potential in thin‐ribbon electronics.