Silver nanowires (AgNWs) have been employed in various optoelectronic devices as transparent electrodes. However, it remains a great challenge to facilely pattern silver nanowires to realize desirable soft skin devices. Here, we develop an intact transfer method via a double-layered adhesion regulator of graphene oxide (GO) enabling complete transfer of a silver nanowire pattern from a tough substrate onto soft polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and flexible polyethylene (PE). We achieve positive and negative patterns simultaneously when selectively transferring silver nanowire patterns. The resulting patterned AgNW electrodes have uniform conductivity and long-term stability. The underlying mechanism of the clean transfer is thoroughly investigated via transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). GO plays a role in reducing the adhesion of AgNW to the donor tough substrate and enhancing adhesion of AgNW to the target soft substrate simultaneously. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of the patterned electrodes as transparent sensors detecting body motion. This work offers an effective solution to the challenging patterning problem of silver nanowires on a hydrophobic soft substrate, which is compatible with the soft component in emerging smart skin or wearable electronics.
Background Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) display unique fenestrated morphology. Alterations in the size and number of fenestrae play a crucial role in the progression of various liver diseases. While their features have been visualized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), the in situ imaging methods and off-line analyses are further required for fenestra quantification. Methods Primary mouse LSECs were cultured on a collagen-I-coated culture dish, or a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) or polyacrylamide (PA) hydrogel substrate. An AFM contact mode was applied to visualize fenestrae on individual fixed LSECs. Collected images were analyzed using an in-house developed image recognition program based on fully convolutional networks (FCN). Results Key scanning parameters were first optimized for visualizing the fenestrae on LSECs on culture dish, which was also applicable for the LSECs cultured on various hydrogels. The intermediate-magnification morphology images of LSECs were used for developing the FCN-based, fenestra recognition program. This program enabled us to recognize the vast majority of fenestrae from AFM images after twice trainings at a typical accuracy of 81.6% on soft substrate and also quantify the statistics of porosity, number of fenestrae and distribution of fenestra diameter. Conclusions Combining AFM imaging with FCN training is able to quantify the morphological distributions of LSEC fenestrae on various substrates. Significance AFM images acquired and analyzed here provided the global information of surface ultramicroscopic structures over an entire cell, which is fundamental in understanding their regulatory mechanisms and pathophysiological relevance in fenestra-like evolution of individual cells on stiffness-varied substrates.
Yi Pan,Chang Li,Xiaoyu Hou,Zhenyu Yang,Mingzhu Li,Ho Cheung Shum
Stimuli-responsive structural coloration allows the color change of soft substrates in response to environmental stimuli such as heat, humidity, and solvents. Such color-changing systems enable smart soft devices, such as the camouflageable skin of soft robots or chromatic sensors in wearable devices. However, individually and independently programmable stimuli-responsive color pixels remain significant challenges among the existing color-changing soft materials and devices, which are crucial for dynamic display. Inspired by the dual-color concavities on butterfly wings, a morphable concavity array to pixelate the structural color of two-dimensional photonic crystal elastomer and achieve individually and independently addressable stimuli-responsive color pixels is designed. The morphable concavity can convert its surface between concave and flat upon changes in the solvent and temperature, accompanied by angle-dependent color-shifting. Through multichannel microfluidics, the color of each concavity can be controllably switched. Based on the system, the dynamic display by forming reversibly editable letters and patterns for anti-counterfeiting and encryption are demonstrated. It is believed that the strategy of pixelating optical properties through locally altering surface topography can inspire the design of new transformable optical devices, such as artificial compound eyes or crystalline lenses for biomimetic and robotic applications.