A self-powered flexible sensing system based on a super-tough, high ionic conductivity supercapacitor and a rapid self-recovering fully physically crosslinked double network hydrogel

In the wave of the Internet era created by computer and communication technology, flexible sensors play an important role in accurately collecting information owing to their excellent flexibility, ductility, freeform bending or folding, and versatile structural shapes. By endowing elastomeric polymers with conductivity, researchers have recently devoted extensive efforts toward developing high‐performance flexible sensors based on elastomeric conductive layers and exploring their potential applications in diverse fields ranging from project manufacturing to daily life. This review reports the recent advancements in elastomeric polymers used to make conductive layers, as well as the relationships between elastomeric polymers and the performance and application of flexible sensors are comprehensively summarized. First, the principles and methods for using elastomeric polymers to construct conductive layers are provided. Then, the fundamental design, unique properties, and underlying mechanisms in different flexible sensors (pressure/strain, temperature, humidity) and their related applications are revealed. Finally, this review concludes with a perspective on the challenges and future directions of high‐performance flexible sensors.

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“…Elastomeric polymers for making conductive layers include traditional elastomers, hydrogels, and ionogels. [43][44][45]…”

Section: Elastomeric Polymers For Conductive Layersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elastomeric polymers for conductive layers of flexible sensors: Materials, fabrication, performance, and applications

Huang

Peng

et al. 2023

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“…Hydrogels are soft materials with a three-dimensional network structure formed by chemical or physical cross-linking of monomers/polymers. − It can respond to external stimuli (light, temperature, pH, etc.) by adjusting the cross-linking mode of hydrogels and types of monomer/polymers. − Therefore, hydrogels show great application potential in the field of actuators. At present, hydrogel actuators can be divided into bilayer hydrogel actuators, gradient hydrogel actuators, patterned hydrogel actuators, and directional hydrogel actuators according to their structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synchronous Ultraviolet Polymerization Strategy to Improve the Interfacial Toughness of Bilayer Hydrogel Actuators

Tang

Liu

et al. 2023

Macromolecules

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Bilayer hydrogel actuators are of great interest in mechanical valves, soft robots, and bionic devices benefiting from their flexibility and adaptability to actuate in different environments. They respond rapidly to external stimuli through differential deformation of the internal structure to achieve the actuation effect. However, the bilayer hydrogel is prone to delamination due to the low interfacial toughness of the two gel layers, thus they exhibit poor actuating performances. In this work, a synchronous ultraviolet (UV) polymerization strategy was proposed to enhance the interfacial toughness of bilayer hydrogel actuators. Based on the synchronous UV polymerization strategy, a gelatin/poly(N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide)–poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide-co-N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide) [gelatin/PHEAA–P(NIPAM-co-HEAA)] bilayer hydrogel actuator with gelatin/PHEAA functional layer and P(NIPAM-co-HEAA) actuating layer was prepared. The obtained bilayer hydrogel showed a maximum interfacial toughness of 508.11 ± 45.62 J/m2, which was attributed to the covalent bonding and topological entanglement of polymer chains at the gel–gel interface induced by the permeation–polymerization step. In addition, the copolymerization of NIPAM with the hydrophilic monomer N-hydroxyethyl acrylamide (HEAA) increased the lower critical solution temperature of the bilayer hydrogel actuator, which allowed the actuator to exhibit stable actuating ability at 90 °C and to be used as a bionic gripper for high-temperature pickup. Overall, a synchronous UV polymerization strategy was presented. It simplified the fabrication of bilayer hydrogel actuators and enhanced the interaction between bilayer hydrogels by forming strong covalent bonding and local topological entanglement structure at the hydrogel interface, which provided a new idea for preparing bilayer hydrogel actuators with high interfacial toughness.

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“…In the past two decades, various tough hydrogels have been developed by designing network structures and imparting energy dissipation mechanisms. − Among these achievements, double-network hydrogels composed of a highly cross-linked brittle network and a loosely cross-linked ductile network demonstrate superior extensibility and toughness. − The design of double networks realized a revolutionary progress on hydrogels from traditional weak and fragile to strong and tough properties. Double-network hydrogels alone, however, still possess limited mechanical properties in modulus and strength, in spite of the toughness that can be enhanced by increasing the extension of the hydrogel. − To produce exceptional strength and toughness simultaneously, one strategy is to combine double-network hydrogels with rigid yet flexible fibers to create a composite, where the rigid fibers increase the specific strength, while the tough hydrogel matrix dissipates energy. Based on this concept, some attempts have been made to fabricate fiber-reinforced hydrogel composites with improved and tunable strength and toughness. − In this context, it is expected that tough hydrogels could be a promising platform for the design and construction of flexible hydrogel/fabric composites with excellent impact protection performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact-Protective Bicontinuous Hydrogel/Ultrahigh-Molecular Weight Polyethylene Fabric Composite with Multiscale Energy Dissipation Structures for Soft Body Armor

Qiu

Liu

et al. 2023

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Soft body armor greatly improves the comfort and security of the wearers. Although laminates based on high-performance fabrics have been adopted, it remains an enormous challenge to develop fabric laminates having flexibility, low bulge deformation, and ballistic protection capability simultaneously. Herein, we report a bullet-proof bicontinuous hydrogel (BH)/ultrahigh-molecular weight polyethylene fabric (UPF) composite. The presence of the BH significantly improves the impact resistance performance of the UPF, without compromising its flexibility. In specific, the multiscale energy dissipation structures composed of hydrogen bond associations in the chain scale, bicontinuous phase structures in the nanoscale, and fibers in the microscale are broken to dissipate energy. As a result, the impact energy of the bullet is greatly absorbed and the bulge height of the composites is significantly reduced in contrast to the neat UPF laminates. This study indicates that the flexible BH-UPF composites with multiscale energy dissipation structures have a promising application in soft body armor.

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A self-powered flexible sensing system based on a super-tough, high ionic conductivity supercapacitor and a rapid self-recovering fully physically crosslinked double network hydrogel

Abstract: At present, hydrogel flexible sensors have attracted wide attention in the field of wearable electronic devices. However, hydrogel flexible sensors need external solid state power supply to output stable signals....

Cited by 35 publications

References 34 publications

Elastomeric polymers for conductive layers of flexible sensors: Materials, fabrication, performance, and applications

Elastomeric polymers for conductive layers of flexible sensors: Materials, fabrication, performance, and applications

Synchronous Ultraviolet Polymerization Strategy to Improve the Interfacial Toughness of Bilayer Hydrogel Actuators

Impact-Protective Bicontinuous Hydrogel/Ultrahigh-Molecular Weight Polyethylene Fabric Composite with Multiscale Energy Dissipation Structures for Soft Body Armor

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