A highly resilient conductive eutectogel with multi-environmental adaptability for strain sensor
Weiwei Zhang, Leyu Dai, Leyu Dai, Chenhua Yang, Wanrong Xu, Chuanxiang Qin, Jianjun Wang, Jun Sun, Lixing Dai, Lixing Dai
Abstract
Compared to traditional hydrogels and ionogels, eutectogels have shown extraordinary potential in wearable electronics. However, it remains a great challenge for eutectogels to achieve excellent adaptability under various environments. Herein, a highly resilient conductive eutectogel with extraordinary long-term environmental adaptability was fabricated via photopolymerization of acrylamide (AM) in a glycerol-chitosan quaternary ammonium salt (CQAS) mixture. The gel not only exhibited good tensile properties and excellent resilience, but also displayed remarkable harsh environment tolerance. Moreover, the eutectogel-based strain sensor demonstrated a wide sensing range and outstanding signal stability, which remained almost unchanged after 3000 cycles at 100% strain. The strain sensor was applied for the detection of various human motions and exhibited prominent sensing performance under harsh environments. More importantly, the eutectogel-based sensor exhibited almost consistent electromechanical performance and stable signal repeatability even after being stored at 20, 60, −40 °C and under vacuum for 15 days.