Stretchable, compressible, and conductive hydrogel for sensitive wearable soft sensors

Conductive hydrogels hold great promises in wearable soft electronics. However, the weak mechanical properties, low sensitivity and the absence of multifunctionalities (e.g., self-healing, self-adhesive, etc.) of the conventional conductive hydrogels limit their applications. Thus, developing multifunctional hydrogels may address some of these technical issues. In this work, a multifunctional conductive hydro gel strain sensor is fabricated by incorporating a conductive polymer Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT: PSS) into a mechanically robust poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/ poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) double network (DN) hydrogel. The as-prepared hydrogel sensor could span a wide spectrum of mechanical properties by simply tuning the polymer composition and the number of freezing-thawing cycles. In addition, the dynamic hydrogen bonding interactions endow the hydrogel sensor with self healing property and reversible adhesiveness on diverse substrates. Moreover, the hydrogel sensor shows high sensitivity (Gauge Factor from 2.21 to 3.82) and can precisely detect some subtle human motions (e.g., pulse and vocal cord vibration). This work provides useful insights into the development of conductive hydrogel-based wearable soft electronics.(c) 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this work, a multifunctional conductive hydrogel strain sensor was developed by incorporating a conductive polymer PEDOT:PSS into a mechanically robust PVA/PAA double network hydrogel. The sensor exhibited adjustable mechanical properties, self-healing capability, reversible adhesiveness, high sensitivity, and the ability to detect subtle human motions.