Tailored wrinkles for tunable sensing performance by stereolithography

• Published in: Interdisciplinary materials (Print) Vol. 3; no. 3; pp. 414 - 424
• Main Authors: Jiang, Ruiyi, Pu, Jie, Wang, Yuxuan, Chen, Jipeng, Fu, Gangwen, Chen, Xue, Yang, Jiayu, Shen, Jianghua, Sun, Xing, Ding, Jun, Xu, Xi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 01.05.2024
• Subjects: 3D printing; conducting polymer hydrogel; flexible sensor; micro‐wrinkle structure
• ISSN: 2767-441X; 2767-4401; 2767-441X
• DOI: 10.1002/idm2.12161

Conducting polymer hydrogel can address the challenges of stricken biocompatibility and durability. Nevertheless, conventional conducting polymer hydrogels are often brittle and weak due to the intrinsic quality of the material, which exhibits viscoelasticity. This property may cause a delay in sensor response time due to hysteresis. To overcome these limitations, we have designed a wrinkle morphology three‐dimensional (3D) substrate using digital light processing technology and then followed by in situ polymerization to form interpenetrating polymer network hydrogels. This novel design results in a wrinkle morphology conducting polymer hydrogel elastomer with high precision and geometric freedom, as the size of the wrinkles can be controlled by adjusting the treating time. The wrinkle morphology on the conducting polymer hydrogel effectively reduces its viscoelasticity, leading to samples with quick response time, low hysteresis, stable cyclic performance, and remarkable resistance change. Simultaneously, the 3D gradient structure augmented the sensor's sensitivity under minimal stress while exhibiting consistent sensing performance. These properties indicate the potential of the conducting polymer hydrogel as a flexible sensor. A conducting polymer hydrogel with wrinkle morphology prepared by stereolithography and in situ polymerization that provides stable sensing and mechanical performance, micromorphology can reduce high hysteresis phenomenon effectively for the polymer sensor. The wrinkles enable the surface to elastically deform when pressure is applied, which can store and release energy reversibly, thereby greatly reducing the effect of the viscoelasticity of the matrix and helping the sensors to recover quickly in the course of the load‐release process.