Polymerizable rotaxane hydrogels for three-dimensional printing fabrication of wearable sensors

Xueru Xiong; Yunhua Chen; Zhenxing Wang; Huan Liu; Mengqi Le; Caihong Lin; Gang Wu; Lin Wang; Xuetao Shi; Yong-Guang Jia; Yanli Zhao

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-36920-3

Polymerizable rotaxane hydrogels for three-dimensional printing fabrication of wearable sensors

Nat Commun. 2023 Mar 10;14(1):1331. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36920-3.

Authors

Xueru Xiong^#^{1

2}, Yunhua Chen^#^{1

2

3}, Zhenxing Wang^{1

2}, Huan Liu², Mengqi Le², Caihong Lin^{1

2}, Gang Wu^{1

2}, Lin Wang^{4

5

6}, Xuetao Shi^{7

8

9}, Yong-Guang Jia^{10

11

12}, Yanli Zhao¹³

Affiliations

¹ School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China.
² National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
⁴ School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China. wanglin3@scut.edu.cn.
⁵ National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. wanglin3@scut.edu.cn.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering of Guangdong Province, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. wanglin3@scut.edu.cn.
⁷ School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China. shxt@scut.edu.cn.
⁸ National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. shxt@scut.edu.cn.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials and Engineering of the Ministry of Education, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. shxt@scut.edu.cn.
¹⁰ School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510641, China. ygjia@scut.edu.cn.
¹¹ National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. ygjia@scut.edu.cn.
¹² Innovation Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510006, China. ygjia@scut.edu.cn.
¹³ School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore, 637371, Singapore. zhaoyanli@ntu.edu.sg.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

While hydrogels enable a variety of applications in wearable sensors and electronic skins, they are susceptible to fatigue fracture during cyclic deformations owing to their inefficient fatigue resistance. Herein, acrylated β-cyclodextrin with bile acid is self-assembled into a polymerizable pseudorotaxane via precise host-guest recognition, which is photopolymerized with acrylamide to obtain conductive polymerizable rotaxane hydrogels (PR-Gel). The topological networks of PR-Gel enable all desirable properties in this system due to the large conformational freedom of the mobile junctions, including the excellent stretchability along with superior fatigue resistance. PR-Gel based strain sensor can sensitively detect and distinguish large body motions and subtle muscle movements. The three-dimensional printing fabricated sensors of PR-Gel exhibit high resolution and altitude complexity, and real-time human electrocardiogram signals are detected with high repeating stability. PR-Gel can self-heal in air, and has highly repeatable adhesion to human skin, demonstrating its great potential in wearable sensors.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acrylamide
Electric Conductivity
Humans
Hydrogels
Printing, Three-Dimensional
Rotaxanes*
Wearable Electronic Devices*

Substances

Rotaxanes
Acrylamide
Hydrogels