Biodegradable flexible conductive film based on sliver nanowires and PLA electrospun fibers

Abstract

AbstractBiodegradable conductive films are crucial for the sustainable development of wearable electronics. In this work, a flexible and degradable conductive film was prepared based on a carefully designed interface of polylactic acid (PLA) electrospun fibers and silver nanowires (AgNWs). The amphiphilic triblock copolymer was added to PLA solution for electrospinning, followed by solvent posttreatment to induce the hydrophilic block of the amphiphilic triblock copolymer to migrate to the fiber surface. Dopamine can be uniformly polymerized on the surface of hydrophilic PLA fibers, and the prepared PLA@PDA fiber film can form a good interface combination with AgNWs. The electrical conductivity of AgNWs/PLA@PDA flexible film can reach 258.5 S cm−1, showing obvious Joule heating effect and good mechanical properties. Degradation experiments showed that in phosphate buffered saline, the PLA molecular chain showed a dynamic equilibrium due to the scission and rearrangement of the ester groups and degraded slowly, while AgNWs/PLA@PDA degraded rapidly under alkaline conditions. Our study provides a simple and controllable method to prepare flexible degradable electronic films, which is expected to be applied to flexible wearable bioelectrodes.