Issue 27, 2017

Conducting hydrogels for edible electrodes

Abstract

The development of highly swollen, strong, conductive hydrogel materials is necessary for the advancement of edible device research. Using a gellan gum/gelatin ionic-covalent entanglement (ICE) hydrogel, a simple method of producing conductive, edible hydrogels is described. ICE gels containing NaCl or CsCl were developed which exhibited conductivities of 200 ± 20 mS cm−1 and 380 ± 30 mS cm−1, respectively. Furthermore, the potential of food grade products for use as edible electrodes was examined by analysing the electrical properties of alginate–gelatin hydrogels, Vegemite, Marmite, jelly and gold leaf. Lastly, these edible ICE gels were used to demonstrate a capacitive pressure sensor from consumable materials, which displayed a sensitivity of 0.80 ± 0.06 pF kPa−1 for a range of 4–20 kPa. The pressure exerted by the GI tract on its contents is standardly 0.7 kPa to 6.3 kPa. This suggests potential for application in the detection of digestive pressure abnormalities such as intestinal motility disorders.

Graphical abstract: Conducting hydrogels for edible electrodes

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
08 May 2017
Accepted
12 Jun 2017
First published
12 Jun 2017

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017,5, 5318-5328

Conducting hydrogels for edible electrodes

A. Keller, J. Pham, H. Warren and M. in het Panhuis, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2017, 5, 5318 DOI: 10.1039/C7TB01247K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements