Issue 25, 2023

Skin-like hydrogels: design strategy and mechanism, properties, and sensing applications

Abstract

Human skin is soft, stretchable, elastic, has a strong ability to heal when injured, and can sense various stimuli. Therefore, the development of materials that can simulate skin characteristics has high research value. Hydrogel is a three-dimensional network material with high water content, which has a high potential for the development of skin-like materials. However, traditional hydrogels are often fragile and have poor sensing ability, which are greatly different from the same properties of skin. Skin-like hydrogel can effectively solve the above problems of traditional hydrogels due to its mechanical tunability, excellent stimulation detection ability and other properties. It is a potential skin-like material. Thus, this study first reviews the design strategy and mechanism of skin-like hydrogels, that is, how to develop qualified skin-like hydrogels, including toughening, stimulation perception and transmission, self-healing and biocompatibility. Secondly, in order to be more suitable for practical application, this study also introduces the methods of introducing adhesion, self-power, and freezing resistance to the skin-like hydrogel. Besides, considering the important enlightening significance of skin in sensing, this study introduces the application of skin-like hydrogels in the field of sensing (namely mechanical sensing, temperature sensing, biochemical sensing). Finally, this study reviews the difficulties and deficiencies in the current research process of skin-like hydrogel and looks forward to its future development.

Graphical abstract: Skin-like hydrogels: design strategy and mechanism, properties, and sensing applications

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
16 3 2023
Accepted
23 5 2023
First published
26 5 2023

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023,11, 8358-8377

Skin-like hydrogels: design strategy and mechanism, properties, and sensing applications

L. Pu, H. Wang, Y. Zhao, Z. Yuan, Y. Zhang, J. Ding, K. Qu, W. Sun, Z. Xue, W. Xu and X. Sun, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2023, 11, 8358 DOI: 10.1039/D3TC00949A

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