Polyelectrolyte Hydrogel with Piezoelectricity and Adhesion for Soft Electronics

Authors：Liu, Mingjie; Deng, Weicheng; Guan, Youjun; Tian, Yu; Kang, Xinchang; Lin, Yeying; Xiang, Chuyang; Zhong, Yangengchen; Ning, Chengyun; Zhou, Lei^*; Fu, Rumin^*; Tan, Guoxin^*

Source：ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2023, 6(1): 997-1005.

DOI：10.1021/acsapm.3c02630

• polyelectrolyte hydrogel
• piezoelectric
• adhesion
• soft electronics

Flexible and piezoelectric hydrogels show great potential in the fields of wearable sensors, soft robotics, and the human-machine interface. However, these existing piezoelectric hydrogel sensors lack adhesive properties to the skin, limiting their further application. Here, by introducing the methacryloxyethyltrimethylammonium chloride (DMC) and the sodium p-styrenesulfonate (NaSS) into the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) piezoelectric hydrogel, a polyelectrolyte hydrogel (PN(x)D(y)A(z)) was prepared through the electrostatic interaction between the polyelectrolytes. The obtained hydrogels exhibited good mechanical properties (fracture stress and fracture strain were 140.65 +/- 4.52 kPa and 499 +/- 9.54%, respectively) and excellent adhesion (adhesion to pig skin surface was 22.78 kPa), excellent mechanical-electric response performance, and could produce stable electrical signal output (similar to 65 mV) during 3000 stress-discharge cycles. When used as a flexible strain sensor, the PN(x)D(y)A(z) hydrogel accurately monitors a variety of body signals and exhibits excellent biocompatibility. Therefore, the flexible and piezoelectric PN(x)D(y)A(z) hydrogel will have broad application prospects in the field of soft electronics.

• Institution
  广州医学院; 广东工业大学