Search

Conductive hydrogels usually suffer from weak mechanical properties and are easily destroyed, resulting in limited applications in flexible electronics. Concurrently, adding conductive additives to the hydrogel solution increases the probability of agglomeration and uneven dispersion issues. In this study, the biocompatible natural polymer chitosan was used as the network substrate. The rigid network employed was the Cit3−ion crosslinked chitosan (CS) network, and the MBA chemically crosslinked polyacrylamide (PAM) network was used as the flexible network. Tannic acid-reduced graphene oxide (TA-rGO), which has excellent conductivity and dispersibility, is used as a conductive filler. Thus, a CS/TA-rGO/PAM double network conductive hydrogel with excellent performance, high toughness, high conductivity, and superior sensing sensitivity was prepared. The prepared CS/TA-rGO/PAM double network conductive hydrogels have strong tensile properties (strain and toughness as high as 2009 % and 1045 kJ/cm3), excellent sensing sensitivity (GF value was 4.01), a wider strain detection range, high cycling stability and durability, good biocompatibility, and antimicrobial properties. The hydrogel can be assembled into flexible wearable devices that can not only dynamically detect human movements, such as joint bending, facial expression changes, swallowing, and saying, but also recognize handwriting and enable human-computer interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conductive hydrogels are promising flexible conductors for human motion monitoring. However, this kind of wearable strain sensor has often shown weak mechanical properties. To overcome the inherent mechanical weakness and improve the electrical conductivity, CNT-Br/PEDOT:PSS/PAAS triple-network penetrating conductive hydrogels (CBP) are fabricated. The n-butylimidazolium bromide salt-functionalized MWCNTs (CNT-Br) as conductive fillers form a three-dimensional conductive path through the crosslinking agent XR-100, penetrating with the skeleton of crosslinking sodium polyacrylate. The conductive liquid PEDOT:PSS is further evenly dispersed in the penetrating double network to further enhance the electrical conductivity of the hydrogels. CNT-Br without obvious agglomeration significantly improved the thermal stability and mechanical properties of CBP. Moreover, CNT-Br enabled the PEDOT:PSS components to be more evenly dispersed in the PAAS matrix. Due to the good conductive paths inside the hydrogels, the maximum electrical conductivity (CBP10) increases to 10.35 mS cm−1, which is 415% higher than that of pure P1. Our work provides a method to prepare conductive hydrogels with high electrical conductivity and excellent mechanical properties, which can be used for human joint motion detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, electrically conductive hydrogels (ECHs) have attracted extensive attention for their potential applications in flexible wearable sensors and human motion monitoring. However, many ECHs are prone to damage during use, limiting their application. In this study, a quick and simple one-pot in situ copolymerization method was used to introduce the double network (DN) structure with good mechanical properties into the conductive hydrogel, providing a new method for preparing the multi-function DN hydrogel. A novel conductive hydrogel was prepared by introducing sodium carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCNa) and polydopamine (PDA) reduced graphene oxide (D-rGO) into polyacrylamide (PAM) hydrogel. Among them, the well-dispersed D-rGO nanofillers provided a good electron conduction pathway. CMCNa/PAM matrix was physically and chemically crosslinked with Fe3+ and N, N′-methylene- bis -acrylamide (MBA), which made the hydrogel had better mechanical properties and pH sensitivity than pure PAM hydrogel. The conductive hydrogel designed by us had better sensitivity (gauge factor (GF) value was 6.44), wider strain detection range (0–500%), better cycle stability and durability compared with other conductive hydrogels by using a composite conductive mechanism of electron and ion conductivity. More notably, D-rGO/CMCNa/PAM hydrogel could detect large-scale changes in human movement (such as bending of fingers and wrists) and sensitive signals without obvious allergic reactions to human skin, which offered great possibilities for practical applications as flexible strain sensors. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]