A Super-Stretchable Liquid Metal Foamed Elastomer for Tunable Control of Electromagnetic Waves and Thermal Transport

Abstract

It is remarkably desirable and challenging to design a stretchable conductive material with tunable electromagnetic-interference (EMI) shielding and heat transfer for applications in flexible electronics. However, the existing materials sustained a severe attenuation of performances when largely stretched. Here, a super-stretchable (800% strain) liquid metal foamed elastomer composite (LMF-EC) is reported, achieving super-high electrical (≈104 S cm−1) and thermal (17.6 W mK−1) conductivities under a large strain of 400%, which also exhibits unexpected stretching-enhanced EMI shielding effectiveness of 85 dB due to the conductive network elongation and reorientation. By varying the liquid and solid states of LMF, the stretching can enable a multifunctional reversible switch that simultaneously regulates the thermal, electrical, and electromagnetic wave transport. Novel flexible temperature control and a thermoelectric system based on LMF-EC is furthermore developed. This work is a significant step toward the development of smart electromagnetic and thermal regulator for stretchable electronics.