A Conductive Self-Healing Double Network Hydrogel with Toughness and Force Sensitivity

Mechanically tough and electrically conductive self-healing hydrogels may have broad applications in wearable electronics, health-monitoring systems, and smart robotics in the following years. Herein, a new design strategy is proposed to synthesize a dual physical cross-linked polyethylene glycol/poly(acrylic acid) (PEG/PAA) double network hydrogel, consisting of ferric ion cross-linked linear chain extensions of PEG (2,6-pyridinedicarbonyl moieties incorporated into the PEG backbone, PEG-H(2)pdca) as the first physical network and a PAA-Fe3+ gel as the second physical network. Metal-ion coordination and the double network structure enable the double network hydrogel to withstand up to 0.4 MPa tensile stress and 1560% elongation at breakage; the healing efficiency reaches 96.8% in 12 h. In addition, due to dynamic ion transfer in the network, the resulting hydrogels exhibit controllable conductivity (0.0026-0.0061 S cm(-1)) and stretching sensitivity. These functional self-healing hydrogels have potential applications in electronic skin. It is envisioned that this strategy can also be employed to prepare other high-performance, multifunctional polymers.