Vanadium pentoxide flat-nanofiber networked thin layer-structure to initiate intercalated polymerization for rapidly producing superior conductive hydrogel and its biomimetic hydrogen peroxide sensing application

Zhuanzhuan Shi; Xiaoshuai Wu; Zhuo Zou; Liang Liu; Juan Li; Kaiyue Zhang; Wei Sun; Chunxian Guo; Chang Ming Li

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.004

Vanadium pentoxide flat-nanofiber networked thin layer-structure to initiate intercalated polymerization for rapidly producing superior conductive hydrogel and its biomimetic hydrogen peroxide sensing application

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2022 Jun:615:357-365. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.004. Epub 2022 Feb 3.

Authors

Zhuanzhuan Shi¹, Xiaoshuai Wu¹, Zhuo Zou¹, Liang Liu¹, Juan Li², Kaiyue Zhang², Wei Sun³, Chunxian Guo¹, Chang Ming Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Materials Science and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215011, China.
² Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, Faculty of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Photoelectrochemistry of Haikou, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China.
⁴ Institute for Materials Science and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215011, China; Institute for Clean Energy and Advanced Materials, Faculty of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China; Key Laboratory of Laser Technology and Optoelectronic Functional Materials of Hainan Province, Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Photoelectrochemistry of Haikou, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China.

PMID: 35149349
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2022.02.004

Abstract

Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)-based hydrogel has been studied extensively due to its low cost, good chemical/mechanical stability, printability and high biocompatibility, but still suffers from its relatively low conductivity and complex synthesis method. In this work, we use vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) flat-nanofiber networked thin layer-structure to boost EDOT-intercalation reaction for rapidly producing fiber-reinforced conductive gel (FCG), achieving superior conductivity of 10 S cm^-1 and extremely fast production time (10 s). The superior FCG formation mechanism is ascribed to the V₂O₅ flat-nanofiber networked thin layer-structure allowing EDOT rapidly penetrating to inter-layers and replacing inside water molecules for polymerization to high-conductive FCG. The FCG can be used to print various patterns and are further used to fabricate a flexible biomimetic hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) sensor, delivering a high sensitivity of 2100 µA mM^-1 cm^-2, ranking the best among all flexible enzyme-free H₂O₂ sensors. More importantly, this flexible biomimetic H₂O₂ sensor is successfully applied to real-time detect living cells-secreted H₂O₂, demonstrating its application for in situ monitoring of small biomolecules released from living cells. This work offers a universal approach to synthesize high-conductive printable hydrogels by designing precursors meriting from both physics and chemistry, while holding great promise for mass-manufacturing inexpensive hydrogels in applications of sensing or wearable devices.

Keywords: Molecular intercalation; Superior conductive hydrogel; V(2)O(5) flat-nanofiber network; flexible biomimetic H(2)O(2) sensor.

MeSH terms

Biomimetics
Electric Conductivity
Hydrogels* / chemistry
Hydrogen Peroxide
Nanofibers*
Polymerization
Vanadium Compounds

Substances

Hydrogels
Vanadium Compounds
Hydrogen Peroxide
vanadium pentoxide