Human-tissue-inspired anti-fatigue-fracture hydrogel for a sensitive wide-range human–machine interface

• Published in: Journal of materials chemistry. A, Materials for energy and sustainability Vol. 8; no. 4; pp. 2074 - 2082
• Main Authors: Su, Gehong, Cao, Jie, Zhang, Xueqian, Zhang, Yulin, Yin, Shuya, Jia, Liyang, Guo, Quanquan, Zhang, Xinxing, Zhang, Junhua, Zhou, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 2020
• Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Bone healing; Crack propagation; electronics; Fatigue; Fatigue failure; Flexible components; Human tissues; humans; Hydrogels; Properties (attributes); tissues; user interface
• ISSN: 2050-7488; 2050-7496; 2050-7496
• DOI: 10.1039/C9TA08111A

The emerging applications of hydrogels in flexible electronics require hydrogels to possess excellent anti-fatigue fracture and self-healing properties; this remains an important unmet scientific challenge. Herein, inspired by human tissues, an effective and simple strategy is proposed to prepare a multifunctional hydrogel that shows ultra-stretchable (>2900%), anti-fatigue-fracture, and self-healable properties. Moreover, the hydrogel exhibits high sensitivity in a wide strain window when used as a strain sensor. More importantly, benefiting from the self-healing and anti-fatigue-fracture properties, the sensing properties of the hydrogel are fully restored after a cutting-and-healing process and it keeps working for a very long time (>20 000 cycles) even after being severely damaged. This hydrogel shows great potential for future artificial intelligence and human–machine interface applications.