Novel exposition on reinforcement mechanism of nanoparticles doped gels for early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease

Abstract

The early diagnosis of parkinson's disease (EDPD) is of vital importance in preventing dysfunctions of patients and improving their healthcare level. However, the smart devices currently used for EDPD are seriously restricted by the inflexibility, unwieldiness and insensitivity. Herein, polyaniline nanoparticles@ (chitosan-polyacrylic acid) (PANI NPs@(CS-PAA)) hydrogel is prepared with in-situ generated PANI NPs to regulate the performances of CS-PAA dual network (DN) hydrogel. Both the mechanical performances (the elongation at break at 1144% and the toughness at ∼318.36 kJ m−3) and the conductivity (at 9.30 S m−1) are significantly improved. However, both properties do not increase linearly with ANI concentration, but show an inverted-V trend with an inflection point. To investigate the inherent mechanism between PANI NPs and the hydrogels, the measurement with dynamic light scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction are employed. A superimposed effect of hydrogen bonding between the amide groups of CS-PAA and the imine groups of PANI and hydrophobic association of benzene rings is revealed to play an important role in the propeties of PANI NPs@(CS-PAA) hydrogel. The resultant hydrogel provides high reliable data when serving as flexible electrode in electrocardiogram detection, and regular mornitoring results with fast response time of 0.4 s for EDPD.