3D printed microstructured ultra-sensitive pressure sensors based on microgel-reinforced double network hydrogels for biomechanical applications.
Mater Horiz
; 10(10): 4232-4242, 2023 10 02.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37530138
ABSTRACT
Hydrogel-based wearable flexible pressure sensors have great promise in human health and motion monitoring. However, it remains a great challenge to significantly improve the toughness, sensitivity and stability of hydrogel sensors. Here, we demonstrate the fabrication of hierarchically structured hydrogel sensors by 3D printing microgel-reinforced double network (MRDN) hydrogels to achieve both very high sensitivity and mechanical toughness. Polyelectrolyte microgels are used as building blocks, which are interpenetrated with a second network, to construct super tough hydrogels. The obtained hydrogels show a tensile strength of 1.61 MPa, and a fracture toughness of 5.08 MJ m-3 with high water content. The MRDN hydrogel precursors exhibit reversible gel-sol transitions, and serve as ideal inks for 3D printing microstructured sensor arrays with high fidelity and precision. The microstructured hydrogel sensors show an ultra-high sensitivity of 0.925 kPa-1, more than 50 times that of plain hydrogel sensors. The hydrogel sensors are assembled as an array onto a shoe-pad to monitor foot biomechanics during gaiting. Moreover, a sensor array with a well-arranged spatial distribution of sensor pixels with different microstructures and sensitivities is fabricated to track the trajectory of a crawling tortoise. Such hydrogel sensors have promising application in flexible wearable electronic devices.
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1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Hidrogéis
/
Microgéis
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2023
Tipo de documento:
Article