Soft polymers programmed with functional particles can be used to create intrinsically stretchable electronics. However, current approaches to fabricating such materials require that the particles be first colloidally dispersed in a liquid monomer or polymer solution that have limited material compatibilities and necessitate precise control over the associated fluid mechanics during the printing process. Here we report the direct incorporation of functional particles in soft polymers using particle engulfment, a process in which particles are spontaneously subsumed by the polymer matrix via surface energy. The engulfment phenomenon occurs when the characteristic size of the particles is much smaller than the elastocapillary length of the polymer matrix, resulting in an energetically stable configuration where functional particles become deeply embedded into the polymer. We use the approach to fabricate multilayered, multimaterial and elastic devices with wireless sensing, communication and power transfer capabilities.

用功能颗粒编程的软聚合物可用于制造本质上可拉伸的电子产品。然而，目前制造此类材料的方法要求首先将颗粒胶体分散在液体单体或聚合物溶液中，这些溶液的材料兼容性有限，并且需要在打印过程中精确控制相关的流体力学。在这里，我们报道了使用颗粒吞噬将功能颗粒直接掺入软聚合物中，在这个过程中，颗粒通过表面能自发地被聚合物基质吸收。当颗粒的特征尺寸远小于聚合物基体的弹毛细管长度时，就会发生吞噬现象，从而产生能量稳定的构型，其中功能颗粒深深嵌入聚合物中。我们使用这种方法制造具有无线传感、通信和电力传输功能的多层、多材料和弹性设备。