SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF METAL-POLYMER NANOCOMPOSITES FOR STRETCHABLE ELECTRONICS APPLICATIONS

The possibility to develop electric devices which can be rolled up, bent or even deformed without lose their funtionality is one of the main and interesting challenges nowadays in materials science and engineering. Indeed, this represents the fundamental step towards the development and the realization of stretchable electronics devices. Till now, several techniques have been developed in order to produce stretchable conductive elements, basically by joining the electrical properties of metals and the mechanical features of polymers. Nevertheless, none of these techniques is able to satify all the basic requirements needed in the realization of metal conductive traces on stretchable polymers. The main purpose of this thesis is the presentation of the Supersonic Cluster Beam Implantation as a novel approach for the production of stretchable conductive nanocomposite systems exploitable in the development of stratchable devices. This will be accomplished through the synthesis of Au-PDMS nanocomposites and the characterization of thier electrical, optical, morphological and mechanical properties. Moreover, this thesis reports on the successful use of SCBI to fabricate first examples of deformable devices, such as the stretchable and biocompatible electrodes for biomedical applications.