Mechanically toughed and self-adhesive organohydrogel with anti-freezing and non-drying properties for human motion monitoring and information transmission

Abstract

With the rise of artificial intelligence, hydrogel-based wearable flexible strain sensors have acquired increasing attention in recent years. Herein, a mechanically toughed versatile organohydrogel with anti-freezing and non-drying properties is constructed by simultaneously introducing methacrylic acid (MAA), acrylamide (AAm) and ZrCl4 into the glycerol/water binary solvent system. Based on the carboxyl-Zr4+ strong metal-coordination interaction, the fracture strain and tensile strength of as-prepared organohydrogel can reach 1015% and 180 kPa, respectively. At the same time, the glycerol/water binary solvent endows the organohydrogel with excellent low-temperature tolerance (−35 °C) and long-term moisture-retention capability (80% at 30 °C for 10 days). Furthermore, the organohydrogel-based strain sensor exhibits wide detection range (5–400%) and remarkable cycling stability (500 cycles at 200% strain), which can not only real-timely monitor various human movements but also precisely distinguish the direction of human motion. Impressively, the as-fabricated organohydrogel sensor also demonstrates promising potential in the application of rehabilitation training of a patient and information transmission. Benefiting from the remarkable environmental stability, the organohydrogel sensor after being stored at − 35 °C and 30 °C for 10 days, respectively, the resistance signals corresponding to different stretching deformations and complex human movements have no obvious decay. It is anticipated that the obtained organohydrogel can as a promising candidate of the next-generation flexible electronic devices for their substantial applications in motion sensing, human-machine interaction, artificial intelligence and biomedicine.