Self-healing, antibacterial, and conductive double network hydrogel for strain sensors

Chenglu Liu; Zhengyan Xu; Sundaram Chandrasekaran; Yongping Liu; Mengyang Wu

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120468

Self-healing, antibacterial, and conductive double network hydrogel for strain sensors

Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Mar 1:303:120468. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120468. Epub 2022 Dec 16.

Authors

Chenglu Liu¹, Zhengyan Xu², Sundaram Chandrasekaran², Yongping Liu³, Mengyang Wu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical and Magneto-chemical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China. Electronic address: liuchenglu@glut.edu.cn.
² Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical and Magneto-chemical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China; Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of surface and interface electrochemistry, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China.
³ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical and Magneto-chemical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China; Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of surface and interface electrochemistry, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China. Electronic address: liuyp624@163.com.
⁴ Guangxi Key Laboratory of Electrochemical and Magneto-chemical Functional Materials, College of Chemistry and Bioengineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China.

PMID: 36657864
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120468

Abstract

Multifunctional hydrogels have great potential in smart wearable technology, flexible electronic devices, and biomedical research. However, it is highly challenging to prepare unique conductive hydrogels with combined properties such as self-healing, self-adhesive, and antibacterial activity. In this regard, herein, a conductive double network hydrogel (ACBt-PAA/CMCs) was fabricated using carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCs), acrylic acid (AA), and alkaline calcium bentonite (ACBt) via a convenient approach. Owing to the hydrogen bond interaction between PAA and CMCs, the ACBt-PAA/CMCs double network structured hydrogels exhibited excellent self-healing (the tensile strength recovered to 74.3 % after 1 h) and adjustable mechanical properties, in which the fracture stress and strain can be easily adjusted in the range of 0.039 to 0.93 MPa and 564 to 2900 %, respectively. In addition, the ACBt-PAA/CMCs hydrogels exhibited the remarkable antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli (bacterial inhibition efficiency of ~99.99 %) and Staphylococcus aureus (bacterial inhibition efficiency of ~99.98 %). Furthermore, the ACBt-PAA/CMCs hydrogel based wearable skin exhibited an excellent real-time sensing performance for monitoring various motions, signifying outstanding sensing and self-adhesion properties. Considering the unique features such as self-healing, excellent adhesion, highly active strain sensing, and antibacterial activities making the ACBt-PAA/CMCs hydrogel is an excellent multifunctional conductive hydrogel. Hence, we believe that this proposed design method for the fabrication of smart and multifunctional conductive hydrogels, and this ACBt-PAA/CMCs hydrogel could be a promising candidate for flexible wearable materials, health monitoring, and beyond.

Keywords: Antibacterial; Double network; Hydrogen-bonded; Self-healing; Sensing ability.

MeSH terms

Anti-Bacterial Agents / pharmacology
Bentonite
Calcium
Electric Conductivity
Escherichia coli
Hydrogels* / pharmacology
Prunella*

Substances

Hydrogels
Calcium
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Bentonite