Ionoelastomer junctions between polymer networks of fixed anions and cations

Abstract

Ionic elastomeric material electronics Wearable devices often need to be soft or flexible, and ideally, these properties would extend beyond packaging material to also include the electronics. Some soft ionic conductors have been made in the form of flexible, stretchable, and transparent devices, but leaks from these materials is a concern. Kim et al. demonstrate ionic elastomeric diodes and transistors that harness ionic double layers to rectify and switch ionic currents (see the Perspective by Gao and Lee). This is achieved without trapped liquids by fixing the anions or cations to an elastomer network while the other species of ions remain mobile. Science , this issue p. 773 ; see also p. 735