Supramolecular nanofibrillar hydrogels as highly stretchable, elastic and sensitive ionic sensors. Issue 2 (1st November 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhang, Xiaohui; Sheng, Nannan; Wang, Linan; Tan, Yeqiang; Liu, Chunzhao; Xia, Yanzhi; Nie, Zhihong; Sui, Kunyan
• Is Part Of: Materials horizons. Volume 6:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 326
• Page End: 333
• Publication Date: 2018-11-01
• Subjects: Materials -- Research -- Periodicals; 543.0284
• DOI: 10.1039/c8mh01188e
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2051-6347

Abstract

Abstract : Nature-inspired ionic conductors based on supramolecular nanofibril are developed for flexible and stretchable strain/pressure 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.