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Nano Research 2022, 15(6): 5461-5468 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4153-5
Research Article | Issue | Published: 27 February 2022

Ultra-antifreeze, ultra-stretchable, transparent, and conductive hydrogel for multi-functional flexible electronics as strain sensor and triboelectric nanogenerator

Show Author's Information Xinhuan Dai1,2,§,  Yong Long1,2,§,  Bing Jiang1,3,  Wenbin Guo1,2,  Wei Sha1,2,  Jiangwen Wang1,2,  Zifeng Cong1,2,  Jiwei Chen1,3,  Bingjun Wang1,3,  Weiguo Hu1,2,3( )
Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101400, China
School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Center on Nanoenergy Research, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

§ Xinhuan Dai and Yong Long contributed equally to this work.

Keywords:
triboelectric nanogenerators, strain sensors, antifreeze, ultra-stretchable hydrogels, multi-functional flexible electronics
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Nano device
Cite this article:
Dai X, Long Y, Jiang B, et al. Ultra-antifreeze, ultra-stretchable, transparent, and conductive hydrogel for multi-functional flexible electronics as strain sensor and triboelectric nanogenerator. Nano Research, 2022, 15(6): 5461-5468. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4153-5
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

Conductive hydrogels have become one of the most promising candidates for flexible electronics due to their excellent mechanical flexibility, durability of deformation, and good electrical conductivity. However, in real applications, severe environments occur frequently, such as extremely cold weather. General hydrogels always lack anti-freeze and anti-dehydration abilities. Consequently, the functions of electronic devices based on traditional hydrogels will quickly fail in extreme environments. Therefore, the development of environmentally robust hydrogels that can withstand extremely low temperatures, overcome dehydration, and ensure the stable operation of electronic devices has become increasingly important. Here, we report a kind of graphene oxide (GO) incorporated polyvinyl alcohol-polyacrylamide (PVA-PAAm) double network hydrogel (GPPD-hydrogel) which shows excellent anti-freeze ability. The GPPD-hydrogel exhibits not only good flexibility and ultra-high stretchability up to 2,000%, but ensures a high sensitivity when used as the strain sensor at −50 °C. More importantly, when serving as the electrode of a sandwich-structural triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), the GPPD-hydrogel endows the TENG high and stable output performances even under −80 °C. Besides, the GPPD-hydrogel is demonstrated long-lasting moisture retention over 100 days. The GPPD-hydrogel provides a reliable and promising candidate for the new generation of wearable electronics.


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Abstract
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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Ultra-antifreeze, ultra-stretchable, transparent, and conductive hydrogel for multi-functional flexible electronics as strain sensor and triboelectric nanogenerator

Show Author's information Xinhuan Dai1,2,§, Yong Long1,2,§, Bing Jiang1,3, Wenbin Guo1,2, Wei Sha1,2, Jiangwen Wang1,2, Zifeng Cong1,2, Jiwei Chen1,3, Bingjun Wang1,3, Weiguo Hu1,2,3( )
Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, Beijing Key Laboratory of Micro-nano Energy and Sensor, Beijing Institute of Nanoenergy and Nanosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 101400, China
School of Nanoscience and Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Center on Nanoenergy Research, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China

§ Xinhuan Dai and Yong Long contributed equally to this work.

Abstract

Conductive hydrogels have become one of the most promising candidates for flexible electronics due to their excellent mechanical flexibility, durability of deformation, and good electrical conductivity. However, in real applications, severe environments occur frequently, such as extremely cold weather. General hydrogels always lack anti-freeze and anti-dehydration abilities. Consequently, the functions of electronic devices based on traditional hydrogels will quickly fail in extreme environments. Therefore, the development of environmentally robust hydrogels that can withstand extremely low temperatures, overcome dehydration, and ensure the stable operation of electronic devices has become increasingly important. Here, we report a kind of graphene oxide (GO) incorporated polyvinyl alcohol-polyacrylamide (PVA-PAAm) double network hydrogel (GPPD-hydrogel) which shows excellent anti-freeze ability. The GPPD-hydrogel exhibits not only good flexibility and ultra-high stretchability up to 2,000%, but ensures a high sensitivity when used as the strain sensor at −50 °C. More importantly, when serving as the electrode of a sandwich-structural triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), the GPPD-hydrogel endows the TENG high and stable output performances even under −80 °C. Besides, the GPPD-hydrogel is demonstrated long-lasting moisture retention over 100 days. The GPPD-hydrogel provides a reliable and promising candidate for the new generation of wearable electronics.

Keywords: triboelectric nanogenerators, strain sensors, antifreeze, ultra-stretchable hydrogels, multi-functional flexible electronics

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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 08 October 2021
Revised: 17 December 2021
Accepted: 12 January 2022
Published: 27 February 2022
Issue date: April 2022

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press 2022

Acknowledgements

The authors thank for the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 22001018, 52192610, 52173298, and 61904012), and the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2021YFA1201603).

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