A self-healing, robust adhesion, multiple stimuli-response hydrogel for flexible sensors

Soft Matter. 2020 Mar 4;16(9):2238-2248. doi: 10.1039/c9sm02303h.

Abstract

Ionic hydrogels have great application potential in human index monitoring and wound treatment, such as in wearable sensors, wound dressings, and ionic skin. However, the design of a hydrogel achieving the synergistic characteristics of excellent mechanical properties, robust adhesion, and multiple stimuli-responses remains a critical challenge. Herein, by introducing negatively charged clay nanosheets, we report a smart ionic Gelatin/PAAm/Clay hydrogel (GPNs gel) with a high conductivity of 10.87 mS cm-1. The as-prepared gel exhibits excellent self-healing properties, robust adhesion (interfacial toughness of up to 485 J m-2 with pigskin), and multiple stimuli-responses driven by salt ions, pH, and stress. Based on this hydrogel, a capacitive sensor has also been designed, which provides linear responses over a wide range (applied pressure up to 2 kPa) and sensitively monitors human motion. In addition, the gel also displays good biocompatibility with human lung embryonic (MRC-5) cells. These characteristics demonstrate that the GPNs gel is an ideal candidate for developing flexible sensor devices.