Issue 34, 2022

A multifunctional sustainable ionohydrogel with excellent low-hysteresis-driven mechanical performance, environmental tolerance, multimodal stimuli-responsiveness, and power generation ability for wearable electronics

Abstract

The defects of conductive hydrogels, such as high internal friction, poor performance at freezing temperatures, and long-term evaporation during storage, restrict their application in wearable electronics. Herein, a dual-crosslinked starch/PAM/borax/glycerol ionohydrogel is fabricated through a one-pot gelation-assisted polymerization approach. Starch supports PAM adapting to the glycerol/water binary solvent system through hydrogen-bonding interactions and graft copolymerization, while boronic ester linkages serve as cross-linking sites. Interestingly, the ionohydrogel exhibits extremely low internal friction (0.5 kJ m−3) and excellent environmental tolerance over a wide temperature range (−60–80 °C). Strikingly, the ionization of Na2B4O7 is sensitive to variations in temperature and humidity in a binary solvent system, which also facilitates the ionohydrogel achieving a lower freezing point and higher evaporation temperature. The ionohydrogel achieves appreciable conductivity (21.1 mS m−1) and good mechanical properties (tensile strength: 332 kPa; elongation at break: 514%) at −40 °C. Taking advantage of these exceptional characteristics and stable transport channels for Na+ and B(OH)4−, an assembled sensor can effectively detect variations in humidity (20–98%), temperature, and strain with high sensitivity, simulating the sensitivity of human skin. It is noteworthy that a single-electrode TENG manufactured using the ionohydrogel displays excellent energy-harvesting capabilities under different types of deformation. This work provides an effective strategy for obtaining a multifunctional ionohydrogel with high ΔR/R0 sensitivity for utilization in self-powered wearable electronics under extreme environmental conditions.

Graphical abstract: A multifunctional sustainable ionohydrogel with excellent low-hysteresis-driven mechanical performance, environmental tolerance, multimodal stimuli-responsiveness, and power generation ability for wearable electronics

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 May 2022
Accepted
27 Jul 2022
First published
11 Aug 2022

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022,10, 17464-17476

A multifunctional sustainable ionohydrogel with excellent low-hysteresis-driven mechanical performance, environmental tolerance, multimodal stimuli-responsiveness, and power generation ability for wearable electronics

W. Si, Y. Liang, Y. Chen and S. Zhang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2022, 10, 17464 DOI: 10.1039/D2TA04276B

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