A multifunctional nanocellulose-based hydrogel for strain sensing and self-powering applications

Baobin Wang; Lin Dai; Lauren Alyssa Hunter; Lei Zhang; Guihua Yang; Jiachuan Chen; Xingye Zhang; Zhibin He; Yonghao Ni

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118210

A multifunctional nanocellulose-based hydrogel for strain sensing and self-powering applications

Carbohydr Polym. 2021 Sep 15:268:118210. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118210. Epub 2021 May 20.

Authors

Baobin Wang¹, Lin Dai², Lauren Alyssa Hunter³, Lei Zhang⁴, Guihua Yang⁴, Jiachuan Chen⁴, Xingye Zhang⁵, Zhibin He³, Yonghao Ni⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada; State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Key Lab of Paper Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, Shandong 250353, People's Republic of China.
² State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Key Lab of Paper Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, Shandong 250353, People's Republic of China; Tianjin Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper, College of Light Industry and Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China. Electronic address: dailin@tust.edu.cn.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Biobased Material and Green Papermaking, Key Lab of Paper Science and Technology of Ministry of Education, Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences), Jinan, Shandong 250353, People's Republic of China.
⁵ College of Materials Engineering, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, No. 15 Shangxiadian Road, Cangshan District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province 350002, China. Electronic address: zhang.xingye@hotmail.com.
⁶ Department of Chemical Engineering, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 5A3, Canada. Electronic address: yonghao@unb.ca.

PMID: 34127214
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2021.118210

Abstract

Ionic conductive hydrogel with multifunctional properties have shown promising application potential in various fields, including electronic skin, wearable devices and sensors. Herein, a highly stretchable (up to 2800% strain), tough, adhesive ionic conductive hydrogel are prepared using cationic nanocellulose (CCNC) to disperse/stabilize graphitic carbon nitride (g-C₃N₄), forming CCNC-g-C₃N₄ complexes and in situ radical polymerization process. The ionic interactions between CNCC and g-C₃N₄ acted as sacrificial bonds enabled highly stretchability of the hydrogel. The hydrogel showed high sensitivity (gauge factor≈5.6, 0-1.6% strain), enabling the detection of human body motion, speech and exhalation. Furthermore, the hydrogel based self-powered device can charge 2.2 μF capacitor up to 15 V from human motion. This multifunctional hydrogel presents potential applications in self-powered wearable electronics.

Keywords: Electronic skin; Ionic conductive hydrogel; Self-powered device; Strain sensor.

Publication types

Video-Audio Media

MeSH terms

Acrylic Resins / chemistry
Adhesives / chemistry
Bioelectric Energy Sources*
Cellulose / chemistry*
Elastic Modulus
Electric Conductivity
Graphite / chemistry
Humans
Hydrogels / chemistry*
Nanocomposites / chemistry*
Nitrogen Compounds / chemistry
Stress, Mechanical
Tensile Strength
Wearable Electronic Devices*

Substances

Acrylic Resins
Adhesives
Hydrogels
Nitrogen Compounds
graphitic carbon nitride
Graphite
polyacrylamide
Cellulose