Stretchable and conductive composites are an important component of flexible electronics. However, it still remains a challenge to achieve high stretchability and high conductivity simultaneously in the composites to ensure high reliability in use. In this work, this issue is addressed by developing an emulsion-template method to fabricate a porous silver nanowire (Ag NW)-based aerogel. The aerogel displays an isotropic and hierarchical microstructure with good uniformity and process controllability. To make the aerogel stretchable, the open cells in the aerogel are infiltrated with an elastomer. The obtained composite exhibits high conductivity (65.7 S cm⁻¹) and good stretchability (130% strain) at a remarkably low density (50 mg cm⁻³) of Ag NWs, which is enabled by the formation of a three-dimensional conductive and flexible network. The study suggests that the emulsion-templated Ag NW aerogel could be a good candidate for the conductive scaffold of highly stretchable conductors.

A mussel-inspired new interfacial ionic rectification device is fabricated using porous anodic alumina nanochannels and graphene oxide via dopamine polymerization. In addition, the rectification mechanism is elucidated based on the principles of physics and thermodynamics via finite element simulation and the results show that the interface distance and surface charge play a vital role in ion transport.

Particle-particle interaction plays a crucial role in determining the movement and alignment of particles under dielectrophoresis (DEP). Previous research efforts focus on studying the mechanism governing the alignment of spherical particles with similar sizes in a static condition. Different approaches have been developed to simulate the alignment process of a given number of particles from several up to thousands depending on the applicability of the approaches. However, restricted by the simplification of electric field distribution and use of identical spherical particles, not much new understanding has been gained apart from the most common phenomenon of pearl chain formation. To enhance the understanding of particle-particle interaction, the movement of pearl chains under DEP in a flow condition was studied and a new type of tumbling motion with unknown mechanism was observed. For interactions among non-spherical particles, some preceding works have been done to simulate the alignment of ellipsoidal particles. Yet the modeling results do not match experimental observations. In this paper, the authors applied the newly developed volumetric polarization and integration (VPI) method to elucidate the underlying mechanism for the newly observed movement of pearl chains under DEP in a flow condition and explain the alignment patterns of ellipsoidal particles. The modeling results show satisfactory agreement with experimental observations, which proves the strength of the VPI method in explaining complicated DEP phenomena.