Controllable Preparation of Ordered and Hierarchically Buckled Structures for Inflatable Tumor Ablation, Volumetric Strain Sensor, and Communication via Inflatable Antenna

Abstract

Inflatable conducting devices providing improved properties and functionalities are needed for diverse applications. However, the difficult part in making high-performance inflatable devices is the enabling of two-dimensional (2D) buckles with controlled structures on inflatable catheters. Here, we report the fabrication of highly inflatable devices with controllable structures by wrapping the super-aligned carbon nanotube sheet (SACNS) on the pre-inflated catheter. The resulting structure exhibits unique 2D buckled structures including quasi-parallel buckles, crisscrossed buckles, and hierarchically buckled structures, which enables reversible structural changes of 7470% volumetric strain. The 2D SACNS buckled structures show stable electrical conductance and surface wettability during large strain inflation/deflation cycles. Inflatable devices including inflatable tumor ablation, capacitive volumetric strain sensor, and communication via inflatable radio frequency antenna based on these structures are demonstrated.