Synergistic Spring-entanglement Network Design of High-modulus and Low-hysteresis Ionic Elastomers for High-fidelity Sensing

Ting Cui; Jing-Ming Cai; Cun-Yi Li; Zhou-Yue Lei; Pei-Yi Wu

doi:10.1007/s10118-026-3780-9

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Synergistic Spring-entanglement Network Design of High-modulus and Low-hysteresis Ionic Elastomers for High-fidelity Sensing

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-08-19

- Synergistic Spring-entanglement Network Design of High-modulus and Low-hysteresis Ionic Elastomers for High-fidelity Sensing
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 44, Pages: 1-11(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  a.State Key Laboratory of Advanced Fiber Materials, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Center for Advanced Low-Dimension Materials, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China
  b.State Key Laboratory of Digital Medical Engineering, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China
  c.School of Civil Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing 210000, China
  d.School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Technology Sydney, 817 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia
  e.Department of Civil Engineering, Aalto University, Espoo 02150, Finland
- Author bio：
  
  leizhouyue@seu.edu.cn (Z.Y.L.)
  wupeiyi@dhu.edu.cn (P.Y.W.)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-026-3780-9
  CLC：
- Received：11 May 2026，
  
  Accepted：10 June 2026，
  
  Online First：19 August 2026，
  
  Published：2026-07
- Accepted：
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Cui, T.; Cai, J. M.; Li, C. Y.; Lei, Z. Y.; Wu, P. Y. Synergistic spring-entanglement network design of high-modulus and low-hysteresis ionic elastomers for high-fidelity sensing. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3780-9

Ting Cui, Jing-Ming Cai, Cun-Yi Li, et al. Synergistic Spring-entanglement Network Design of High-modulus and Low-hysteresis Ionic Elastomers for High-fidelity Sensing[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-11.
Cui, T.; Cai, J. M.; Li, C. Y.; Lei, Z. Y.; Wu, P. Y. Synergistic spring-entanglement network design of high-modulus and low-hysteresis ionic elastomers for high-fidelity sensing. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3780-9 DOI：

Ting Cui, Jing-Ming Cai, Cun-Yi Li, et al. Synergistic Spring-entanglement Network Design of High-modulus and Low-hysteresis Ionic Elastomers for High-fidelity Sensing[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-11. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-026-3780-9.

摘要

Abstract

The development of high-performance ionotronics is currently hindered by the fundamental trade-off between mechanical robus

tness (high modulus and toughness) and functional reliability (low hysteresis and high elasticity). Conventional toughening mechanisms that rely on sacrificial bonds inevitably introduce significant energy dissipation and irreversible creep

leading to fatal signal drifts in long-term applications. Herein

we report a synergistic spring-entanglement network that achieves simultaneous optimization of the modulus

recovery

and extensibility

via

topological modulation. By utilizing a click-chemistry-derived covalent framework as a stiff athermal spring

the elastomer achieved a skin-like modulus (approximately 1 MPa) and near-zero hysteresis (

0.51%). The strategic integration of ultra-high-molecular-weight polymer entanglements introduces topological constraints that function as non-dissipative stress delocalisers

facilitating a fracture strain of 142% without compromising the instantaneous restorative force. This architecture maintains low hysteresis and high elasticity over 10000 cycles

ensuring impeccable signal fidelity and negligible baseline drift in multimodal sensing. This synergistic topological design provides a robust foundation for reliably stable human-machine interfaces and precision ionotronics.

关键词

Keywords

references

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