Wearable, Healable, and Adhesive Epidermal Sensors Assembled from Mussel-Inspired Conductive Hybrid Hydrogel Framework

TLDR: In this paper, conductive, adhesive, wearable, and soft human-motion sensors are successfully assembled from conductive and human-friendly hybrid hydrogels with reliable self-healing capability and robust self-adhesiveness.

Abstract: Healable, adhesive, wearable, and soft human-motion sensors for ultrasensitive human–machine interaction and healthcare monitoring are successfully assembled from conductive and human-friendly hybrid hydrogels with reliable self-healing capability and robust self-adhesiveness. The conductive, healable, and self-adhesive hybrid network hydrogels are prepared from the delicate conformal coating of conductive functionalized single-wall carbon nanotube (FSWCNT) networks by dynamic supramolecular cross-linking among FSWCNT, biocompatible polyvinyl alcohol, and polydopamine. They exhibit fast self-healing ability (within 2 s), high self-healing efficiency (99%), and robust adhesiveness, and can be assembled as healable, adhesive, and soft human-motion sensors with tunable conducting channels of pores for ions and framework for electrons for real time and accurate detection of both large-scale and tiny human activities (including bending and relaxing of fingers, walking, chewing, and pulse). Furthermore, the soft human-motion sensors can be enabled to wirelessly monitor the human activities by coupling to a wireless transmitter. Additionally, the in vitro cytotoxicity results suggest that the hydrogels show no cytotoxicity and can facilitate cell attachment and proliferation. Thus, the healable, adhesive, wearable, and soft human-motion sensors have promising potential in various wearable, wireless, and soft electronics for human–machine interfaces, human activity monitoring, personal healthcare diagnosis, and therapy.