Ultra-strong, nonfreezing, and flexible strain sensors enabled by biomass-based hydrogels through triple dynamic bond design

Abstract

Biomass-based hydrogels have displayed excellent potential in flexible strain sensors due to their adequacy, biocompatibility, nontoxic and degradability. Nevertheless, their inferior mechanical properties, particularly at cryogenic temperatures, impeded their extensive utilization. Herein, we reported a rationally designed strain sensor fabricated from a gelatin and cellulose-derived hydrogel with superior mechanical robustness, cryogenic endurance, and flexibility, owing to a triple dynamic bond strategy (TDBS), namely the synergistic reinforcement among potent hydrogen bonds, imine bonds, and sodium bonds. Beyond conventional sacrificing bonds consisting of hydrogen bonds, dynamic covalent bonds and coordinate bonds, synergetic triple dynamic bonds dominated by strong hydrogen bonds and assisted by imine and sodium bonds with higher strength can dissipate more mechanical energy endowing the hydrogel with 38-fold enhancement in tensile strength (6.4 MPa) and 39-fold improvement in toughness (2.9 MPa). We further demonstrated that this hydrogel can work as a robust and biodegradable strain sensor exhibiting remarkable flexibility, broad detection range, considerable sensitivity and excellent sensing stability. Furthermore, owing to the improved nonfreezing performance achieved from incorporating sodium salts, the sensor delivered outstanding sensing properties under subzero conditions such as −20 and −4 °C. It is anticipated that the TDBS can create diverse high-performance soft-electronics for broad applications in human–machine interfaces, energy and healthcare.