Surface-Stabilization of Ultrathin Gold Nanowires for Capacitive Sensors in Flexible Electronics

Ultrathin gold nanowires (AuNWs) have shown great potential toward applications in flexible electronics. However, they suffer from high surface instability that consequently limits their applicability for solution-processed composite materials. To overcome this limitation, we show for the first time how a synthetic thiolated small-molecule ligand such as ethyl 11-(4-mercaptobenzamido) undecanoate can stabilize the AuNW surface enabling their manipulation in solution-processed composite manufacturing techniques. As a proof of concept, we show how such stabilized NWs can be formulated into a PDMS matrix and spin-coated to afford stretchable elastomeric strips capable of sensing mechanical deformation with loading as low as 0.03 wt %.