Issue 30, 2019

A flexible, adhesive and self-healable hydrogel-based wearable strain sensor for human motion and physiological signal monitoring

Abstract

The advent of hydrogel-based strain sensors has attracted immense research interest in artificial intelligence, wearable devices, and health-monitoring systems. However, the integration of the synergistic characteristics of good mechanical properties, self-adhesiveness, self-healing capability and high strain sensitivity for fabricating hydrogel-based strain sensors is still a challenge. Here, a multifunctional conductive hydrogel composed of a polyacrylamide (PAAm)/chitosan (CS) hybrid network is fabricated for wearable strain sensors. The PAAm network is cross-linked by hydrophobic associations, and the CS network is ionically cross-linked by carboxyl-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (c-MWCNTs). These two networks are further interlocked by physical entanglement and hydrogen bond interactions. The obtained hydrogels exhibit excellent flexibility, puncture resistance and self-healing capability because of the efficient energy dissipation of the dynamic cross-linking network. Moreover, the hydrogels exhibit self-adhesive behavior on various materials, including polytetrafluoroethylene, wood, glass, aluminum, rubber and skin. Notably, the hydrogels can be applied as soft human-motion sensors for real-time and accurate detection of both large-scale and small human activities, including joint motions, speaking, breathing, and even subtle blood pulsation. Therefore, it is anticipated that the flexible, self-adhesive, self-healing and conductive hydrogel-based strain sensor will have promising applications in artificial intelligence, soft robots, biomimetic prostheses, and personal health care.

Graphical abstract: A flexible, adhesive and self-healable hydrogel-based wearable strain sensor for human motion and physiological signal monitoring

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Mai 2019
Accepted
24 Jun 2019
First published
25 Jun 2019

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2019,7, 4638-4648

A flexible, adhesive and self-healable hydrogel-based wearable strain sensor for human motion and physiological signal monitoring

S. Xia, S. Song, F. Jia and G. Gao, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2019, 7, 4638 DOI: 10.1039/C9TB01039D

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