Issue 43, 2019

Tough but self-healing and 3D printable hydrogels for E-skin, E-noses and laser controlled actuators

Abstract

A versatile hydrogel with extraordinary mechanical strength and self-healing efficiency was developed by integrating physically crosslinked graphene oxide (GO) into a chemically crosslinked polyacrylic acid (PAA) network. The PAA–GO–Ca2+ hydrogel with dual-crosslinked networks exhibited remarkable mechanical properties, such as an outstanding stretchability to 2500% and high toughness (∼9.73 MJ m−3) along with high stiffness (Young's modulus:∼753.667 kPa). The hydrogel also showed a remarkable self-healing capability to maintain ∼87.47%, 88.02% and 86.93% of its tensile strength, tensile strain, and toughness, respectively, which was attributed to the reversible hydrogen bonding and ionic interactions of Ca2+ with PAA and GO. Reduction was further performed on 3D printed PAA–GO–Ca2+ hydrogels to reduce GO and produce conductive PAA–rGO–Ca2+ hydrogels as wearable biosensors for monitoring different human activities, ammonia detection and laser-driven actuators.

Graphical abstract: Tough but self-healing and 3D printable hydrogels for E-skin, E-noses and laser controlled actuators

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Apr 2019
Accepted
01 Aug 2019
First published
01 Aug 2019

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019,7, 24814-24829

Tough but self-healing and 3D printable hydrogels for E-skin, E-noses and laser controlled actuators

Y. Wang, Q. Chang, R. Zhan, K. Xu, Y. Wang, X. Zhang, B. Li, G. Luo, M. Xing and W. Zhong, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2019, 7, 24814 DOI: 10.1039/C9TA04248B

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