Cellulose Nanocrystal and Silver Nanobelt Gel: Cooperative Interactions Enabling Dispersion, Colloidal Gels, and Flexible Electronics

Using cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) as a dispersant and cross-linker, we sought to enable the dispersion of silver nanobelts (AgNBs) in water for use in the manufacture of flexible electronics. In this work, we obtained a colloidal gel relying on contributions from both particles. When dried, particle interactions during gel collapse induced cooperative buckling of the AgNBs, obtaining a desirable spring-like conductive network that was not seen without the presence of CNCs. Thus, exploiting the collapse of bonded colloidal gels may represent a novel method to obtain desirable network buckling behavior for use in flexible electronics, which previously has only been obtained through printing on prestrained substrates.