Multiple-Stimuli-Responsive and Cellulose Conductive Ionic Hydrogel for Smart Wearable Devices and Thermal Actuators

Stimulus-responsive hydrogels, such as conductive hydrogels and thermoresponsive hydrogels, have been explored extensively and are considered promising candidates for smart materials such as wearable devices and artificial muscles. However, most of the existing studies on stimulus-responsive hydrogels have mainly focused on their single stimulus-responsive property and have not explored multistimulus-responsive or multifunction properties. Although some works involved multifunctionality, the prepared hydrogels were incompatible. In this work, a multistimulus-responsive and multifunctional hydrogel system (carboxymethyl cellulose/poly acrylic-acrylamide) with good elasticity, superior flexibility, and stable conductivity was prepared. The prepared hydrogel not only showed excellent human motion detection and physiological signal response but also possessed the ability to respond to environmental temperature changes. By integrating a conductive hydrogel with a thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) hydrogel to form a bilayer hydrogel, the prepared bilayer also functioned as two kinds of actuators owing to the different degrees of swelling and shrinking under different thermal stimuli. Furthermore, the different thermochromic properties of each layer in the bilayer hydrogel endowed the hydrogel with a thermoresponsive smart feature, the ability to display and conceal information. Therefore, the prepared hydrogel system has excellent prospects as a smart material in different applications, such as ionic skin, smart info-window, and soft robotics.

Automated summary

A multi-stimulus-responsive and multifunctional hydrogel system was developed, showing good elasticity, flexibility, and stable conductivity. It can detect human motion, respond to physiological signals, and environmental temperature changes. The bilayer hydrogel system also functions as actuators and has thermoresponsive smart features for displaying and concealing information.