Issue 2, 2019

Supramolecular nanofibrillar hydrogels as highly stretchable, elastic and sensitive ionic sensors

Abstract

There is a growing demand for flexible and stretchable strain/pressure sensors for different applications. However, existing conductors usually cannot meet all the requirements for use in next-generation wearable sensors. In this work, we demonstrate a new class of nature-inspired ionic conductors based on supramolecular sodium alginate (SA) nanofibrillar double network (DN) hydrogels with complex shapes by injection. Owing to their dermis-mimicking structures, these hydrogels exhibit unique features, such as high transparency (99.6%), high tension/compression strength (0.750 MPa/4 MPa), high stretchability (3120%), high toughness (4.77 MJ m−3) and superior elasticity (100%) at high strain (1000%). In particular, the use of salts (e.g., NaCl) as triggers in supramolecular assembly combining SA makes the hydrogels ideal ionic conductors. The ionic conductors were demonstrated as strain sensors with high sensitivity to an extremely broad strain window (0.3–1800%) and a low applied voltage (down to 0.04 V), as well as with high pressure sensitivity (1.45 kPa−1). These hydrogel-based ionic sensors may find applications in sports monitoring, human/machine interfaces and soft robotics.

Graphical abstract: Supramolecular nanofibrillar hydrogels as highly stretchable, elastic and sensitive ionic sensors

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
22 ruj 2018
Accepted
22 lis 2018
First published
23 lis 2018

Mater. Horiz., 2019,6, 326-333

Supramolecular nanofibrillar hydrogels as highly stretchable, elastic and sensitive ionic sensors

X. Zhang, N. Sheng, L. Wang, Y. Tan, C. Liu, Y. Xia, Z. Nie and K. Sui, Mater. Horiz., 2019, 6, 326 DOI: 10.1039/C8MH01188E

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