posted on 2024-02-01, 17:50authored bySeokkyoon Hong, Taewoong Park, Junsang Lee, Yuhyun Ji, Julia Walsh, Tianhao Yu, Jae Young Park, Jongcheon Lim, Claudia Benito Alston, Luis Solorio, Hyowon Lee, Young L. Kim, Dong Rip Kim, Chi Hwan Lee
Self-healing hydrogels are in high
demand for wearable
sensing
applications due to their remarkable deformability, high ionic and
electrical conductivity, self-adhesiveness to human skin, as well
as resilience to both mechanical and electrical damage. However, these
hydrogels face challenges such as delayed healing times and unavoidable
electrical hysteresis, which limit their practical effectiveness.
Here, we introduce a self-healing hydrogel that exhibits exceptionally
rapid healing with a recovery time of less than 0.12 s and an ultralow
electrical hysteresis of less than 0.64% under cyclic strains of up
to 500%. This hydrogel strikes an ideal balance, without notable trade-offs,
between properties such as softness, deformability, ionic and electrical
conductivity, self-adhesiveness, response and recovery times, durability,
overshoot behavior, and resistance to nonaxial deformations such as
twisting, bending, and pressing. Owing to this unique combination
of features, the hydrogel is highly suitable for long-term, durable
use in wearable sensing applications, including monitoring body movements
and electrophysiological activities on the skin.