Soft Materials With Recoverable Shape Factors from Extreme Distortion States

Elastomeric polysiloxane nanocomposites with elongations of >5000% (more than 3× greater than any previously reported material) with excellent shape recovery are presented. Highly deformable materials are desirable for the fabrication of stretchable implants and microfluidic devices. No cross-linking or domain formation is observed by a variety of analytical techniques, suggesting that their elastomeric behavior is caused by polymer chain entanglements.