Ionic Conductive Organohydrogels with Dynamic Pattern Behavior and Multi‐Environmental Stability

Abstract

Multi‐environmental tolerant hydrogels have received significant attention and are promising for application as smart materials in multiple environments (e.g., water, oil, freezing, and dry). However, the macroscopic change and anti‐swelling mechanisms of organohydrogels in different solvents and their corresponding applications have not been adequately harnessed. Herein, an ionic organohydrogel with excellent mechanical properties and unique behaviors (information identification and encryption) and mechanical sensing in multiple environments is prepared. The prepared organohydrogel shows an obvious transparent change in different solvents owing to the microphase separation in poor solvents and swelling in suitable solvents, and can be treated as a dynamic information memory device for recording and encrypting information. Furthermore, owing to the interaction between water and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO), the organohydrogel demonstrates a prominent freezing resistance (−90 to 20 °C) and moisturizing retention properties (76% after 15 days). In addition, the ionic conductive hydrogel exhibits outstanding human motion detection and physiological signal response and displays a stable mechanical sensing performance in freezing, dry conditions, and oil or water environments. It is envisioned that the design strategies and mechanistic investigation of organohydrogels may be promising for application as bio‐sensors and information‐recognition platforms in harsh environments.

Stochastic Jumping Robots for Large‐Scale Environmental Sensing

“…Alternatively, the material of the latches could be triggered by the presence or absence of a compound of interest in the environment. Responsive hydrogel [34,35] could be used to make latches respond to various stimuli such as pH and temperature. This could allow the robots to sense their environment and physically move based on whether a triggering material is present.…”

Paper‐Structure Inspired Multiresponsive Hydrogels with Solvent‐Induced Reversible Information Recording, Self‐Encryption, and Multidecryption

“…Similar moldinformation recording methods have been reported in previous studies. [14,27,38] However, the pattern margins of these systems were relatively blurred, and the proposed molds were relatively simple due to the low recording accuracy. In our designed woodblock printing molds, "T," "SJTU," a "heart shape," and complex Chinese characters " " were tested, present on the designed hydrogel2010-based paper after ethanol printing (Figure 5d, Movies S4 and S5, Supporting Information).…”

“…Our group previously reported an ionic conductive organohydrogel in a binary solvent system that exhibited information identification and encryption, which could experience solvent‐induced transparency changes, forming a visible microphase separation and hydrophobic association. [ 27 ] However, limitations such as long‐term information recording and poor resolution were observed. Therefore, the development of easily prepared and high‐resolution hydrogels that exhibit timely information recording with the ability to self‐erase encrypted/decrypted data is desired.…”

Reversible Writing/Re‐Writing Polymeric Paper in Multiple Environments

“…Compared with traditional materials adopted in papers, polymer‐based materials have exceptional properties such as convenient formability, high elasticity, and unparalleled stability in harsh situations. [ 4 ] Designed by the elaborate molecular structure, the polymer can achieve distinguished performances (shape‐memory, [ 5 ] multi‐response, [ 6 ] self‐healing, [ 7 ] etc. ), which are perceived as the promising substrate material for re‐writing papers with multi‐environmental stability.…”