Prototype of stretchable wire made by NC University

Oh yes! The prototype of the wire that has the capability of stretching eight times the original length according to what NCSU posted in their journal, Advanced Functional Materials. The elasticity of this wire was possible because it used a rubber tubing filled with highly conductive metal alloy instead of a copper wire.

Dr Micheal Dickey- an assistant professor of chemical and bio-molecular engineering in North Carolina University said:

Previous efforts to create stretchable wires focus on embedding metals or other electrical conductors in elastic polymers, but that creates a trade-off. Increasing the amount of metal improves the conductivity of the composite, but diminishes its elasticity. Our approach keeps the materials separate, so you have maximum conductivity without impairing elasticity. In short, our wires are orders of magnitude more stretchable than the most conductive wires, and at least an order of magnitude more conductive than the most stretchable wires currently in the literature.

The real world application is pretty much what you can imagine from your earphone to phone chargers, laptop cables, even extension cords. The question now remains that it’s the feasibility to embrace this by default.

Source: Gizmodo Via: NCSU