Liquid metal and Mxene enable self-healing soft electronics based on double networks of bacterial cellulose hydrogels

Ming Wang; Orlando J Rojas; Like Ning; Yuehu Li; Xun Niu; Xuetong Shi; Haisong Qi

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120330

Liquid metal and Mxene enable self-healing soft electronics based on double networks of bacterial cellulose hydrogels

Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Feb 1;301(Pt A):120330. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120330. Epub 2022 Nov 11.

Authors

Ming Wang¹, Orlando J Rojas², Like Ning³, Yuehu Li⁴, Xun Niu⁵, Xuetong Shi⁵, Haisong Qi⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China; Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Wood Science, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
² Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Wood Science, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems, School of Chemical Engineering, Aalto University, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland. Electronic address: orlando.rojas@ubc.ca.
³ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Wood Science, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; College of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Longpan Road 159, Nanjing 210037, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Chemistry, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada; Department of Wood Science, University of British Columbia, 2360, East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3, Canada.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510641, China. Electronic address: qihs@scut.edu.cn.

PMID: 36436861
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2022.120330

Abstract

Liquid metal (LM) nanodroplets and MXene nanosheets are integrated with sulfonated bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) and acrylic acid (AA). Upon fast sonication, AA polymerization leads to a crosslinked composite hydrogel in which BNC exfoliates Mxene, forming organized conductive pathways. Soft conducting properties are achieved in the presence of colloidally stable core-shell LM nanodroplets. Due to the unique gelation mechanism and the effect of Mxene, the hydrogels spontaneously undergo surface wrinkling, which improves their electrical sensitivity (GF = 8.09). The hydrogels are further shown to display interfacial adhesion to a variety of surfaces, ultra-elasticity (tailorable elongation, from 1000 % to 3200 %), indentation resistance and self-healing capabilities. Such properties are demonstrated in wearable, force mapping, multi-sensing and patternable electroluminescence devices.

Keywords: Bacterial nanocellulose; Electroactive hydrogels; Force mapping; Liquid metals; Self-healing; Ti(3)C(2)T(x) MXene.

MeSH terms

Acrylates
Bacteria
Cellulose*
Electronics
Hydrogels*
Metals

Substances

Hydrogels
Cellulose
acrylic acid
Acrylates
Metals